Devil On My Shoulder
by Bill K
Summary: Behavior in Tokyo is becoming more aberrant and erratic.  When the Sailor Senshi investigate, they find the cause surprisingly close to home.
1. The Incident

Devil On My Shoulder  
Chapter 1: "The Incident"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2010 by Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha and Toei Animation and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2010 by Bill K.

* * *

Shinjiro Hino sat at the desk in his office at the Japanese Diet, immaculate in his tailored black suit and his expensively styled hair. Image was important to the man, particularly now that he was past fifty. It was important to him that the world still see him as vital, strong and commanding. A politician who the people thought couldn't lead was not long for this world.

"Well yes, I see several problems with the bill," Hino said over the phone. He was talking with a member of the opposition Democrat party, who was trying to get his support for a bill. As one of the senior and more powerful members of the Liberal Democrat Party, Hino's support would mean the support of a great many LDP members. "It's too ambitious - - too sweeping. The economy can't take it as it is now. And if the mess that's going down in the United States spreads beyond its borders, it could destroy Japan's entire economy."

Everything he said was true, of course. However, Shinjiro Hino had learned long ago how to speak a truth that was designed to conceal another truth. He thought the Japanese Democrats were trying to do too much too soon. They had swept into power in the last election, deposing the Liberal Democrats' decades-long hold on government, but it was a fragile perch. Now they wanted dramatic results to show the masses that they were getting things done. That way, the masses would keep them in power.

And Hino knew that all he had to do was wait. If he and the LDP could drag their heels long enough while looking as if they had legitimate concerns over the legislation, the Japanese public would lose patience with the opposition Democrats. And with the economic panic in the US negatively effecting the already struggling economy in Japan, public patience could evaporate even more quickly.

"What you're proposing isn't sound economic theory," Hino told the caller. "You're placing too much of a burden on an already stressed financial and industrial sector. If they break under the strain, what do you think that will do to the unemployment and investment figures? You're like a drunkard in a gambling house, desperately hoping to roll a winning number."

Even if the Democrats got their bill pushed through, Hino knew he could get enough of it compromised so that it would be a colossal failure. And when it blew up in the opposition's face, well there he'd be, his party ready to resume being the safe, sensible alternative to all of these wild radical ideas. And he personally would be positioned to be majority leader - - perhaps even Prime Minister, if he timed it right.

"We'll discuss this further on the floor," Hino told his caller. "My mentor always said no bill is unsalvageable if people are willing to compromise for the greater good. But I've got an appointment right now and I have to go. I'll see you there."

Yes, Shinjiro Hino cared about Japan. He wanted it to be strong and successful. He wanted the people to be happy and proud of their government. But he wanted that on his watch, not the Democrats.

Hino left the Diet and drove to a restaurant in Roppongi. Inside the restaurant, he walked over to an occupied table and sat down across from a squat middle-aged man. The man was well dressed, though not nearly as expensively as Hino was, and was visibly trying to keep a low profile. Hino knew that was impossible for himself, so he didn't try. A waitress came over.

"Just Sake," Hino told her with a dismissive glance, unconsciously stroking his mustache. He turned to the man. "So what's the latest?"

"Nothing new," the man replied. He waited for the waitress to bring Hino's drink and leave. "Dietman Nogura is busy working on trying to get this economic measure passed. It's consuming much of his time. He's barely even seen his family." The man smirked. "Although he always seems to have time for Keiko."

"Are you certain she's still doing her job?" Hino asked. "It's not possible that she's fallen in love with the lifestyle of a Dietman's mistress and is slacking off?"

"Not Keiko," the man assured him. "She likes handsome young men too much. Besides, what you're paying her is enough to keep her loyalty."

"It's been three months," Hino began.

"Don't be impatient," the man told him. "These things take time. It was a delicate job planting Keiko in Nogura's life. You can't risk ruining all of that effort by becoming impatient and pushing for results."

"Yes, you're right," Hino relented. "Delicate things do take time and care to nurture properly." He downed his sake. "Keep at it. And keep me posted."

"Of course, Dietman," the man nodded. "And don't worry about Keiko. Among her considerable talents is a very good pair of ears. And she has a way of making men feel at ease around her. I think she could even make you fall for her."

Hino unconsciously stroked the wedding band he still wore.

"I doubt it," Hino said and downed his drink.

* * *

Nestled in the second floor of a professional building that housed doctors, attorneys, accountants, dentists and other professionals was the office of Midtown Medical Partners. Just near enough to the business district and just near enough to residential areas to cater to both clientele, the office bustled on a daily basis with patients. There was more than enough business for the two recently joined partners, Dr. Mamoru Chiba and Dr. Ami Mizuno.

Entering the office was a comely blonde in her late twenties. She had on a yellow sun dress and a wide-brimmed straw hat that barely fit on her head over the twin balls of hair pinned at the back of her head. Underneath the brim were deep blue eyes that sang of love and charity, and a small mouth with a mischievous smile that whispered of someone who hadn't yet completely grown up.

She was greeted at the entrance to the waiting room by Mrs. Yoshiba. Mamoru had inherited Mrs. Yoshiba from the previous owner of Midtown Medical Practitioners, before he changed the name. She was sixty-three and rail thin, with graying black hair and heavy black frame glasses, and a humorless face. But she was an efficient records keeper, knew the ins and outs of billing and finance from forty years of experience and was a familiar touchstone for all the patients who had been coming here before Mamoru had even set foot in the place. Mrs. Yoshiba had a system. She kept out of the medical decisions and Mamoru and Ami kept out of the business operations. That was fine with both of them.

Usagi was another matter.

"Dr. Chiba still has one more patient to attend to," Mrs. Yoshiba told Usagi when she entered, by now used to Dr. Chiba's wife showing up early to escort him home.

"I won't disturb him," Usagi said and headed for the door. When she got there, she found the door to the inner offices was still electronically locked. She turned peevishly to Mrs. Yoshiba.

"No, you won't," Mrs. Yoshiba said, not even looking up.

"Well can't I at least visit Ami?" whined Usagi.

"Dr. Mizuno is currently with a patient," Mrs. Yoshiba replied.

"I won't get in the way! I promise!" Usagi exclaimed. Mrs. Yoshiba looked up and gave Usagi a disbelieving eye, then looked back down at her billing charts.

Folding her arms over her chest in frustration, Usagi blew at her bangs and waited.

Fifteen minutes later, Ami came out and brought a folder with charts over to Mrs. Yoshiba's desk. She had barely gotten the folder out of her hand when she felt Usagi's presence against her.

"Usagi," Ami smiled. "How good to see you. Are you picking Mamoru up again?"

"Yes. You know how it is," sighed Usagi. "I can only go so long and then I start going through man withdrawal." Then her eyes narrowed and she smirked. "Oh, that's right. You don't know."

"Don't start with me, Usagi," Ami warned her with good-natured vehemence, adjusting her glasses for emphasis. "Come on back. I still have a few things to clear up. We can talk while I do them." She signaled Mrs. Yoshiba to buzz them through. As she passed through with Ami, Usagi looked back and stuck her tongue out at the receptionist.

"Well, I worry about you, Ami," Usagi continued as they went into Ami's office. "You're always alone. It's not normal."

"Usagi, I realize that matchmaking is a compulsion with you and that you can't help it," Ami said as she gathered sheets of paper into a folder. "And I know you only have my best interests at heart. But I'm not sitting alone in my apartment, withering away like some neglected plant. I gain sufficient mental stimulus on my own and my work is very fulfilling."

"Is it?" Usagi asked hopefully. "You are happy here?"

"Quite happy," Ami smiled. "I'm doing good here, Usagi, as much good as I did at the hospital. I'm quite happy here." Ami sighed. "If only everyone would believe that."

"Aw, Ami, she'll come around," Usagi offered.

"If you say so," Ami murmured. "In any case, Mamoru, Miss Taibu and Mrs. Yoshiba have all been very supportive and very professional. It's made my transition quite smooth and very pleasant."

"I'm glad to hear it, Ami," Usagi beamed. Then her gaze shifted upwards. "Although at the hospital there were an awful lot of handsome young doctors . . ."

"Will you stop!" gasped Ami.

"Now you sound just like Rei," Usagi pouted. "I'm going to get you two married and I don't care how much either of you don't like it!"

"Shouldn't you ask Rei first if she wants to marry Ami?" Mamoru chuckled, standing in the doorway.

"Mamo-Chan!" Usagi squealed and leaped into his arms. Her arms braced behind his neck and she gave him a big kiss. Ami discreetly looked away. When they finished, he eased Usagi to the floor.

"Is this crazy lady bothering you, Dr. Mizuno?" Mamoru asked. Usagi's face twisted up and she swatted his arm.

"Usagi is never a bother, Mamoru," Ami told him. "I welcome her visits at any time."

"Maybe you could tell Mrs. Yoshiba that," Usagi grumbled. "Are you ready to go, Mamo-Chan?"

"Give me a few minutes to log my prescriptions for the day," Mamoru said, heading for his office as he spoke.

"I'll come with you," Usagi bolted after him. "I can keep you company."

"OK," Ami heard Mamoru say. "But no nibbling on my ear."

"But I haven't eaten since lunch," Ami heard Usagi giggle.

"No!" she heard Mamoru repeat.

"You know you liiiiiiiike it," Ami heard Usagi say in sing-song fashion. Then the door closed on them.

Ami shook her head and went back to work. She took the file out into the general file area and replaced it.

"Was that Mrs. Chiba I heard?" asked Nanako Taibu. She was the medical assistant for both Ami and Mamoru. The woman was thirty, with brown hair tied in a bun, a stout figure and a professional demeanor.

Ami nodded. Nanako stared at the closed door to Mamoru's office.

"I wish I was that deeply in love with someone," Miss Taibu sighed and went on about her business. Ami paused at the file cabinet for a moment, letting the medical assistant's statement sink in.

* * *

"You want to do it."

That's what the urge kept telling Shiro Iyadomi as he silently rode the elevator up to the terrace level. He'd thought about it in the past, considered it fleetingly. Life could be so demanding sometimes. All the hours he put in at work, a middle manager at an insurance firm, added up. His superiors never seemed satisfied. Eighty hour weeks almost seemed expected of him. It was like he was on a treadmill, constantly expending effort and never getting anywhere. Didn't they understand he had goals and ambitions of his own, as well as a family he needed to attend to and a private life he'd like to have a chance to live?

Home life wasn't much better. His wife seemed to blame everything that had gone wrong in their lives on him. It was almost like she stayed with him because nothing better had come along. His oldest son had no respect for him at all and little use for traditional conformist Japanese society. He wanted to be a musician. He wanted to be free. But he still wanted to eat dinner at home. His daughter was beginning to run around with delinquent girl gangs. Nothing he said to her made any impression. And her rebellion was beginning to affect the younger daughter.

And private life - - what private life? Did a late night a week at a bar constitute a private life? Did the company softball team, which he joined only to favor his supervisor, define "fun" to him? Were the magazines with naked women that he stored in his office desk the only excitement he had to look forward to?

The elevator opened onto the terrace and Shiro Iyadomi walked out. The terrace was an enclosed deck on top of the insurance building. It was decorated with tables, chairs and sofas, as well as potted plants and a fountain in the center. It was an enclosed space that the employees could use as a quiet place to spend their lunch hours or free time in without having to leave the building. Even now several other employees were there, talking or eating. Two waved to Shiro, but the forty-four year old man with thinning hair, glasses and a sagging posture didn't acknowledge them. He was too consumed with his own thoughts.

So he'd had the thought before. But it had never been this strong, this consuming. It was as if someone from above, some higher power had given him silent permission to think this way and now it dominated his thoughts. It seemed like the perfect answer. But did he have the courage?

And suddenly he knew he did. Without a word, Shiro Iyadomi picked up a chair from the terrace, walked over to the nearest glass window and flung the chair through the window. The great sound it made attracted the attention of everyone on the terrace. As such, they were all witness to what came next.

"Why can't you tell me where we're going?" Mamoru asked with thinning patience. Usagi clung to his arm and led him down the street as other people hurried along to their own destinations.

"Because I want you to SEE it first," Usagi responded, her own patience thinning.

"Because you're afraid I'll say 'no' if I don't?" Mamoru inquired with a cynical smirk.

"Don't be so smug all the time!" his wife pouted and Mamoru knew he'd hit the truth.

"Is it food?" Mamoru asked.

"No," Usagi replied.

"Is it clothing of some kind?"

"No."

"Is it one of the new 2009 Honda motorcycles?" Mamoru asked, with little boy hopes.

"Don't be silly," scowled Usagi.

As Usagi tugged him along, Mamoru began to recognize the area they were in. When he spotted the gown shop in the first floor of the office building next to the insurance building, the pieces began to fall into place.

"A ball gown?" Mamoru gaped. "You said it wasn't clothing."

"Mamo-Chan!" Usagi responded impatiently. "A ball gown is not just 'clothing'!"

"You've got a gown already," he said, confused.

"Mamo-Chan, you have to see this!" Usagi implored, knowing that the sight of it would silence any argument her husband might have.

Mamoru scowled, preparing to be bored by the sight and prepared for the argument that would follow. That all changed suddenly. Suddenly there was danger. Suddenly there was that buzz he felt whenever Usagi was threatened. He looked up.

"Usako, stop!" he snapped, jerking Usagi back. His bewildered wife stumbled back toward him. Mamoru scooped her up and turned her away, protecting her with his body.

"What . . .?" was all she got out. Then a chair crashed to the sidewalk right where she would have been. All feeling seemed to wash out of her body for a moment. Usagi stared at the broken, bent chair. It all seemed suddenly so unreal.

A sound rising from the crowd that had stopped to look at the chair was her only warning. Falling to the sidewalk just to one side of the chair was Shiro Iyadomi. Usagi saw his head impact with the concrete sidewalk and burst like a watermelon.

"Oh, Mamo-Chan!" she gasped and buried her face in his chest, her hands clutching the lapels of his coat like they were life lines. Mamoru, who had seen it too, wrapped his arms around the woman he loved and squeezed tight, trying to reassure her through physical proximity. She trembled within his grasp and he supported her as she shook.

Continued in Chapter 2


	2. The Odd Behavior

Devil On My Shoulder  
Chapter 2: "The Odd Behavior"

By Bill K.

The sidewalk was choked by on-lookers. In the street, cars had stopped and the passengers gawked. The people were gathered in a circle around where the incident took place. Most stared. A few had their cell phones out, calling the police or the fire department. One or two others were recording it with their cell phones so they could post it on the internet. In the center of the circle, amid broken glass and next to a bent chair, the corpse of Shiro Iyadomi, a middle manager with an insurance company housed in the very building they were in front of, lay in a pool of blood and gore, his head exploded from impact with the sidewalk. Some people murmured that he must have committed suicide by jumping from the top of the building and they weren't wrong.

To one side, Mamoru Chiba eased his wife up against a light pole. He supported her with hands on both shoulders and peered into her eyes with concern. Usagi was very upset and emotional. Her breath shuddered as tears streamed down her face and she struggled to control herself. Mamoru supported her because he wasn't certain she had the strength to support herself.

"Usako?" he asked.

"Why, Mamo-Chan?" she sobbed, looking up at him. Usagi was devastated by this, even though she hadn't known the man at all. "Why would he do that to himself?"

"I don't know, Usako," Mamoru tried to counsel her. "Something terrible must have driven him to it." Usagi just continued to cry and Mamoru looked on helplessly. He never felt so helpless in his life than during these times, in the face of her tears.

"If you need to go help him, go," Usagi gasped out through vocal cords thick with emotion. "I'll be all right."

"There's nothing anyone can do for him now, Usako," Mamoru told her gently, "except give him a decent burial."

Usagi let out a strangled wail and dived into her husband's arms. Mamoru brought her in and held her as she cried anew. By now, security personnel from the insurance building had made it outside and were cordoning off the area. The first police unit arrived and began interviewing witnesses. On-lookers began to disperse and life in Tokyo slipped back into routine for everyone except the family and friends of Shiro Iyadomi and for the people unfortunate enough to witness his demise.

* * *

"TOSHI, LOOK AT WHAT I GOT!" Minako bellowed as she entered the apartment she shared with her husband, Toshihiro, and her mentor, Artemis.

"He's still at the studio," Artemis said, laying lethargically on the back of the sofa.

"Boy, he's been putting in some long nights at the studio," Minako scowled, flipping her long blonde hair back. Then her mood instantly changed back. "Artemis, look at what I got!"

She held out her hand and showed the white cat. He raised his head, glanced at it, then replaced his head on his front paws.

"A miniature wireless headset phone," Artemis sighed. "Thrilling." Then the cat suddenly sensed a menacing presence looming over him. He looked up and found Minako glaring down from above.

"You're not impressed?" Minako asked in a hushed tone. Warning signals went off in the cat's brain.

Too late; Minako's fist crashed down on the cat's head and she ground her knuckles into it.

"OW!" roared Artemis. "ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THE ANIMAL ABUSE STATUTES?"

"This is NOT," Minako emphasized, "JUST another miniature wireless headset phone. THIS is the new Universe Phone from Takamoto Telecom. It's only THE hottest electronic gadget in Japan right now!"

"I'll try to remember that when I'm icing down my bruises," muttered Artemis. "Isn't Takamoto Telecom the corporation your dad works for?"

"Sure is," Minako replied, flopping down on the sofa so she could admire her new toy. "Dad's been talking about the sales figures for weeks. It's such a hot item that Dad has had to work overtime. He's even had to miss a few Giants' games - - and they're in a pennant race!"

"Wow!" Artemis remarked, genuinely impressed. Minako's father was such a rabid baseball fan that Minako always said he'd stay in a burning building to watch his beloved Yomiyuri Giants.

"Dad says that after a slow start, sales just went through the roof," Minako continued. She had the package open and was fiddling with the miniature headset, trying to figure out how it worked without condescending to read the instructions. "It's just the shot in the arm the company needed. They were getting ready to downsize."

"It might be easier to get that to work if you read the instructions," Artemis observed.

"I know how to do it!" Minako barked. And she continued to fumble with it.

"So how is the movie doing?" Artemis changed the subject. "I think this is the first time you've been home before seven since filming started."

"Great," Minako replied as she continued to fiddle with the phone. "I'm doing some of my best acting, Artemis." She stopped and grinned. "Although kissing Hitaro Tsuko isn't the hardest acting job I've ever had to sell."

"Um," Artemis scowled, "you might not want to be so loose with comments like that, Minako."

"Why?" Minako looked at him curiously.

Artemis sighed. "I don't think Toshihiro would like hearing that."

"He read the script, Artemis. He knows Hitaro and I play torrid lovers."

"And he approved because he knew it would be a good career move for you," Artemis continued. "But that doesn't mean he's comfortable with it. And you joking about it like that won't help."

"Think?" Minako asked blankly.

"He might even see it as rubbing his nose in it. Toshihiro tries, but he's got a possessive streak when it comes to you and stuff like this makes it harder for him to keep his jealousy under control."

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Buddy," Minako replied, chastened. "Maybe I need to do something special for him." Minako thought a moment. "I know! I could cook something for him!"

"Wow, it would be quicker just to shoot him," muttered Artemis.

And with his innate feline reflexes, Artemis danced out of the way before Minako's fist could connect with his skull again.

* * *

Mamoru reluctantly went to answer the door. He was curious as to who might be at the door so late in the evening. He and his wife didn't entertain much and any gathering of friends was usually held in a restaurant or public place rather than at their apartment. Even with their recent move into more spacious accommodations, the habit died hard.

And Mamoru didn't really feel like dealing with anyone that evening. Usagi was still upset by what they'd both witnessed earlier that evening. He was upset by it as well, but as usual he sublimated his feelings in order to tend to his wife. Both Luna and he had done everything they could to console Usagi. But he knew that death had a deep effect on Usagi and witnessing something as violent as a man jump to his death wasn't something the sensitive woman would get over quickly. He would just have to ride it out and keep her head above water until she could swim through the oceans of life on her own again.

"Rei?" he exclaimed, finding Rei Hino at the door.

"I'm sorry for coming so late in the evening, Mamoru," Rei said soberly. Her emotions were downcast. "It's just - - I felt her. What happened?"

"A man committed suicide down in the office district," Mamoru told her, ushering the priest in. "It happened right in front of us."

"No wonder," Rei whispered, emotion choking off much of her voice. Without a second thought to Mamoru, the priest swept into the kitchen.

Usagi was there, wiping her red eyes with a tissue. Luna was on the table, her face right up next to Usagi's, whispering encouragement to the woman. Usagi looked up and saw Rei. Her eyes were bubbling over with tears, red fissures surrounding the deep blue. She wanted to say something, but didn't trust her voice. Luna looked up and Rei could see the gratitude in the cat's face. Instantly Rei was in a chair next to her friend.

"Oh, Rei, it was horrible," whimpered Usagi. She collapsed against her friend. "That poor man."

"I know," Rei cooed, gathering Usagi in. "It's terrible what some people are driven to do to themselves."

"Why?" Usagi asked desperately. "Why would he do something like that? Didn't he realize what he'll be missing? Didn't he know how much he'd lose?"

"He couldn't have" Rei told her softly, gently, like a mother comforting a child. "He wouldn't have done it otherwise."

Usagi nodded her head and continued to cry. Rei kept Usagi nestled to her body. As she rocked her friend, she looked up at Mamoru and silently mouthed a request for some tea. Mamoru nodded and went to brew it.

Minutes passed into an hour. Mamoru and Luna adjourned to the living room to let Rei work her magic on Usagi's soul. The time passed slowly for them both.

"I understand from news reports," Luna commented just to break the silence, "that unusual behavior such as this is up in Tokyo."

"Are you seeing a conspiracy?" Mamoru asked grimly. Hearing something that might mean Usagi would have to go into action as Sailor Moon once more was never welcome news for him.

"Artemis and I have looked into it," Luna admitted. "We haven't found anything so far." The black cat considered her next words. "Perhaps it's just an unusual coincidence."

"I hope," Mamoru replied. "I know I'm being selfish, but I find myself wishing more and more that Sailor Moon is never, ever needed again. I just want her to write and draw and burn dinner three nights a week and be my wife - - and be happy. Is that so much to ask?"

"Philosophers might think so," Luna responded. "But then, philosophers don't know her as we do. They might change their tune if they did."

After a while Rei led a sheepish Usagi into the room. Mamoru was up off the sofa and over to her in a shot.

"Treat her gently for the next few days," Rei told him. "She's still kind of fragile."

"I'll be OK," Usagi said. Everyone could tell she was still kind of down. "Thank you for being patient with me, Mamo-Chan." She slid her arms around his torso and hugged him.

"Just paying back everything you do for me," he said and squeezed her to him. Usagi clung to him for as long as she could, then reluctantly parted from him to turn to Rei.

"I'm sorry for getting you down here," she said to the priest, "although I still don't know how you knew."

"Just part of being your friend," Rei said. She leaned in and kissed Usagi on the cheek. "Now if you need anything, even if it's just to talk, you call me. I've got a phone again." Usagi giggled in spite of her mood.

"Did you break down and buy one of those new Universe Phones?" Mamoru asked.

"Don't be absurd," Rei scowled. "I got the cheapest, simplest table model the store had. You know I don't have to be trendy and hip and have the latest gadget some advertising campaign tells me I have to have." She glanced slyly at Usagi. "That's more Minako's speed anyway." Usagi smirked.

"Goodness," Luna sniffed. "Rei's actually rejoined the twentieth century. And only nine years into the twenty-first."

* * *

A day after Usagi's terrible evening, a car sped through the evening streets of Tokyo, headed for a residence tucked into the blocks and rows of suburban Japan. At the wheel was Toshihiro Manabe. He was driving his wife, Minako, from the studio to her parents' home for a dinner date, only because Minako was still under suspension and couldn't drive herself.

Silently he endured the trepidation he felt. It wasn't that Toshihiro disliked Minako's parents. He liked her father well enough, even though they didn't have anything in common other than their fondness for Minako. But Minako's mother could be a headache. The woman was not shy about expressing her opinions and didn't spare anyone from her judgment, not even Minako or her father. Her criticism of Minako in the past often erupted into arguments and Toshihiro disliked arguments. It reminded him too much of his own childhood and his own parents.

"Can't you go any faster?" Minako asked.

"Not and stay under the speed limit," Toshihiro responded.

"Speed limits are for wimps," smirked Minako.

"Yes, I remember how well the judge liked hearing that when you got your last suspension," quipped Toshihiro. Minako wanted to look mad at him, but the irony soon broke her down. "How was filming?"

"It went pretty well," Minako shrugged. "If it wasn't for being in makeup for two hours each way, it would be great. Two hours in the morning and two hours at the end of the day. You'd think I was doing a monster movie instead of a period flick."

"Is that why you were late getting out?"

"Yeah. That and the rain. We had to do interior shots because of the weather."

"Bedroom shots?" Toshihiro asked. Minako glanced at him sideways.

"A few," she admitted. "I thought of you the entire time."

"You need to put a little more feeling into your delivery of that line," Toshihiro joked half-heartedly. Then he slumped slightly "I'm trying, Minako."

"I know you are, Toshi," Minako replied, touching his hand.

Arriving at the Aino residence, Toshihiro parked the car. He took out an umbrella and together they made their way through the rain up to the front porch. The buzzer was greeted moments later by Minako's father, Daichi Aino. He seemed to sag even more than they remembered. Managing a tired smile that pushed his thick, black frame glasses up, he ushered them in.

"Hi, Minako-honey," he beamed, almost seeming energetic. "You look lovelier every time I see you."

"Well, I just came out of makeup," Minako quipped. She kissed her father on top of the head, since she was a good six inches taller than he was now. "I'm finally here, Mom! Sorry for being late! Things ran long at the studio!"

"Toshihiro," Daichi nodded, shaking the man's hand. "You're doing a good job keeping her happy. I know what a struggle it can be sometimes."

"I do my best," Toshihiro replied.

"You're fine, Minako!" they heard her mother, Kimiko, call out from the kitchen. Then she peeked out, her brown hair still immaculately gathered behind her and her face only just beginning to show signs that she was approaching fifty. "YOUR FATHER was late getting home from work - - AGAIN - - so dinner hasn't been waiting at all." The woman came out and hugged her daughter. "I loved the last season of your television show, dear. I always said you had a great actress inside of you."

"Sorry, I didn't realize I was talking to 'pod-Mom'," Minako smirked. Her mother gave her a peevish scowl.

"Have you been working late a lot, Daichi-Otosan?" Toshihiro asked.

"Yes, this new phone gadget his company has on the market," clucked Kimiko. "It's the latest rage among the young people with more money than they know what to spend it on. And all of those people who have to be trendy. I have no idea why a phone makes you somebody important, but apparently it does in some circles."

"Don't knock it, Mom," Minako advised her. "Those trendy people are keeping Takamoto Telecom in business. Just remember, if they've got money in their hand and they want to give it to you, they're right."

"That's precisely why this country is in the situation it's in," her mother sniffed imperiously.

"People like to feel good about themselves, ma'am," Toshihiro ventured cautiously. "If a harmless little toy like the Universe Phone lets them do that, that's a good thing."

"Speaking of which," Minako said, reaching into her purse and pulling out the new Universe Phone she'd just purchased, "lookee lookee at what I've got."

The Universe Phone was no sooner at eye level than it happened. Minako's father lunged with his right hand and snatched the phone away from his daughter.

"Dad!" gasped Minako. Everybody else was staring at him incredulously.

"DON'T USE THIS!" he snapped urgently. "Don't even touch it!"

"Daichi!" Kimiko gasped.

"I," he began, then stopped. It looked like he wanted to say more, but didn't dare.

"Dad?" Minako inquired.

"Don't use it, Minako," he repeated. "A-As a favor to me - - please." Embarrassed, he turned to his wife. "Is dinner ready yet?"

Kimiko nodded and mechanically walked into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for spoiling things," Daichi offered. "Come on. Your mother has worked hard on this. I promise I'll be better company."

Glancing uneasily at each other, Minako and Toshihiro allowed themselves to be ushered into the dining room.

* * *

Detective Yokomura walked up to the office of Superintendent Sakurada as summoned. Yokomura was twenty-five and a fast riser in the detective bureau. But this was his first visit to Superintendent Sakurada's office and he knew he had to be on his toes. Sakurada had a good eye for detail and would know if a detective was slacking off or missing obvious indications. He paused at the door to her office and knocked. A voice ushered him in.

"What do you have on the suicides, Yokomura?" she asked point blank as he entered. She was an attractive woman even at forty, a woman with long flowing black hair and a pleasant face who dressed with a flattering and expensive fashion sense. It was easy to take her lightly from that image until you looked her in the eye and saw that ability she had to see everything, digest it and know what had happened and what was likely to happen in a particular situation.

"Nothing conclusive, Superintendent," Yokomura reluctantly admitted. "We've looked at everything and there's nothing that links all of them."

"Well, suicides in the Tokyo Metro area are up forty-seven percent in the last six months," Sakurada told him. "Obviously we're always going to have some suicides. Is there anything at all linking most of them, or just some of them - - something that would account for that kind of increase?"

"Well," Yokomura began, massaging the back of his neck, "a significant number of them seem to be either salarymen or teens. That in itself isn't unusual. Statistically, those two groups tend to account for a lot of suicides, the third group being the elderly. There just seems to be more of them than usual."

"And they don't have anything in common?"

"Other than living in Tokyo Metro," Yokomura admitted, "no."

Sakurada leaned back in her big plush chair. "Then you haven't dug deep enough, Yokomura. Something is causing this. It's too unusual a spike." Sakurada allowed herself a frustrated exhalation. "It's almost like this city is slowly going crazy. Petty crime is up. Violent crime is up. Random acts of defiance are springing up. And nobody seems to know why."

Refocusing on Yokomura, the police Superintendent fixed a steely gaze on him. "Dig deeper, Yokomura. Expand your search if you have to. Cross-check with robbery, with homicide, with other departments. Look for trends. Don't dismiss anything, no matter how silly it sounds. We can't afford to overlook anything."

Yokomura nodded crisply and was dismissed. Sitting at her desk, Sakurada eyed her phone anxiously. Was it time to ask for help? She didn't want to involve the senshi if it was something her department could solve. But she didn't want innocent people to die because she was too proud to ask for help.

Superintendent Sakurada sat at her desk and began to study the reports before her. Perhaps her answer was in the report.

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. The First Clue

Devil On My Shoulder  
Chapter 3: "The First Clue"

By Bill K.

* * *

"Dr. Mizuno is with a patient right now," Mrs Yoshiba said. "If you'll have a seat, I'll let her know you're here."

Inside the exam room, Ami wrote the prescription out on her pad and pulled the top sheet off. She handed it to her patient, a 53 year old man complaining of knee pain.

"This should help you some with the pain you're experiencing, Tegumi-San," Ami told him. "It's not a cure, though. Your MRI indicates your knee discomfort is the result of arthritis, which has begun to form in both knees. This, unfortunately, is a chronic condition. We can manage the pain and the deterioration of the cartilage for now. While your knees won't get any better, we can prevent them from getting worse anytime soon."

"Yes, Doctor," Mr. Tegumi nodded. It wasn't good news for him, but it was the best news she could provide. Medical science was advanced, but it wasn't perfect. After she sent Mr. Tegumi back to the receptionist to schedule his next appointment, Ami got the call about her visitor. Curious as was her nature, Ami came out and greeted him.

He was a fairly handsome man in his late forties. He dressed well and looked distinguished, so Ami concluded he made a very nice living and that he was a person who depended upon his appearance and personality to do his job - - a sales rep or a recruiter of some sort. The waiting room was reasonably empty and Mamoru was ushering his next patient in, so Ami decided she could give the man a few minutes.

"Dr. Mizuno?" he greeted her, bowing crisply and displaying a charming smile. "I represent Miyamoto Medical Research Institute. My name is Goro Mishikawa."

"I'm happy to meet you, Mishikawa-San," Ami nodded. "I've heard many things about the Miyamoto Institute. It has a very prestigious reputation. You do a good deal of good work."

"Thank you, Dr. Mizuno," Mishikawa smiled. "I'm certain we can do even more good work with you on staff."

"M-Me?" Ami stammered. "There must be some mistake."

"I hardly think so, Dr. Mizuno," Mishikawa assured her uneasily. "We've thoroughly researched you before I even came here. Your university transcript was, quite frankly, overwhelming. And your post-graduate medical career - - well, to be perfectly honest, we at the institute had trouble actually believing it. But it was corroborated by several interviewees. You would be a splendid addition to the Miyamoto Institute, Dr. Mizuno. I can't imagine why some other hospital or research facility hasn't snapped you up already!"

Ami adjusted her glasses in order to catch her mental breath.

"Mishikawa-San," Ami began, "where did your firm get the impression that I was interested in joining you? I sent out no resume or feelers concerning employment with you."

"Are you certain?" Mishikawa asked, pulling a file out of his briefcase. He thumbed through it. "We have a letter of recommendation concerning you, complete with an attached resume. We just naturally assumed it was sent to us on your behalf." He pulled out a letter from the file. "Here it is."

Ami took the letter and skimmed it. At the bottom, it was signed "Dr. Kanami Mizuno". As she read, Mishikawa noticed the young doctor's lips thin. She uttered a controlled sigh.

"Mishikawa-San," Ami began precisely, but with an undertone of annoyance, "I must apologize to you and your firm. The person who sent this was not working on my behalf and had no right to send this to you. Forgive me for wasting your time."

"I," Mishikawa began, unsure of what had just happened. "Think nothing of it, Dr. Mizuno. But our offer still stands. You demonstrate genuine talent and intellect and we think you would be a valuable asset to our firm. We can promise you a generous salary and benefits, plus a state-of-the-art research facility and a generous shared ownership of any patent you develop."

"Thank you, Mishikawa-San," Ami said, looking supremely uncomfortable, "but I'm quite happy doing what I do here. I must decline your generous offer. Please don't be offended. Now if you'll excuse me, I have patients to see."

Ami picked up the next file, walked over to a young mother with two wriggling kids and bowed to her, leaving both Mr. Mishikawa and Mrs. Yoshiba staring at her in disbelief.

* * *

"And it's the Universe Phone! The latest breakthrough in telecommunications technology!"

"Oh, sure," Michiru said to herself. She brought up the remote control for the television and changed the channel away from the boisterous ad. The channel changed several more times before she stopped. The program on now didn't exactly satisfy her, but it was inoffensive enough to rest on for a while.

The green-haired artist scowled. She was actually bored. Plans for her tour with Haruka were finalized, but the tour wouldn't happen for several months yet. No recording label had signed her as yet. She was between inspirations in her art at the moment. There were no matters that needed the attention of the senshi.

And Haruka was in Italy. Michiru now wished she had gone with her. But Haruka was first in the points standings going into the race and Michiru had an irrational fear that she would be a distraction if she'd gone along. Haruka insisted that she wouldn't be, but Michiru made her mind up and there was no changing it.

Now she was having second thoughts.

"Well, it's too late now," Michiru told herself. "You'll just have to wait for her to come back." She sighed. "And she'll be here one day, and then off to Belgium. Formula-One, you have become the bane of my existence."

Grabbing a pillow, Michiru pressed it to her stomach and flopped onto her back.

"I'm definitely going on the next trip," she muttered. "This is clearly an acute case of 'Haruka's fingers' withdrawal."

The phone rang. Michiru popped up and answered it.

"Hello, Junko," Michiru smiled. "No, she's still in Monza. I expect her back on Wednesday." Junko said something and Michiru smiled. "Well, Haruka will probably be pretty jet-lagged from the trip - - plus I don't intend to let her out of my sight." She listened to the teen's reply. "No need to apologize. I'm just being a selfish little witch. You know how I am where Haruka's concerned. So how are you doing in school?" Junko's reply made her smirk. "Well you need to keep trying. Graduation isn't too far off for you."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'm sorry, Junko, I have to cut this short. Someone is at the door," Michiru said. Junko responded. "No, I'm not doing anything at the moment. If you want to come over this weekend, that will be fine. I can tell you more embarrassing stories about Haruka. Just make sure your homework is done first. Um, that is if I don't decide to fly to Belgium with Haruka, that is." She paused to listen to Junko. "I'm glad you understand. Good-bye."

Peering out the side window, Michiru found a girl at the door. Opening it gave her a closer look. The girl was about sixteen, with long fine black hair gathered midway down her back with a hair scrunchy. Small black frame glassed sat on her face. The face was plain, but there was a hint of a beautiful girl there. Michiru thought that with a little care and effort the girl could be quite attractive. She wore a peach colored blouse and a plaid skirt that might have been from a school uniform. As was becoming more and more typical with the youth of Japan these days, a Universe Phone was in her ear. The girl was typical Japanese, indistinguishable from a thousand other young girls in the teaming city.

"Yes?" Michiru asked.

"This is where Haruka Tenoh lives, isn't it?" the girl asked.

Michiru recognized the dreamy look in her eyes. She was another fan. Haruka had a growing fan base, and one of the largest growing segments of her fan base were girls age thirteen to sixteen. Haruka's masculine look and rugged handsomeness were quite attractive to a lot of girls entering their sexual years. To be fair, Michiru understood the attraction all too well. And the fact that Haruka was known to be a woman made her a "safe" attraction for a young girl to have entering womanhood. A few of them, though, were bold enough to seek out Haruka at their home.

"Yes," Michiru responded cordially but carefully.

"Can I talk to her?" the girl asked breathlessly.

"Haruka isn't here right now," Michiru told her. "If you'd like to communicate with her, Haruka does have a fan site you can leave messages on."

"No, I have to talk to her," the girl insisted.

"Well, she's in Italy with her racing team," Michiru said patiently. "If you'd like, I'll relay a message to her if it's that important."

"Who are you?" the girl asked. There was a disdainful tone to her question.

Michiru sized the girl up. "I'm Haruka's wife," she said. It was unfortunate that she had to be so blunt, but this girl looked like she needed a splash of reality at the moment.

"Not for long," the girl responded.

Michiru noted a cruel, almost wild look in the girl's eye. The girl backed up a step, almost triumphantly. Michiru started for her, trying to keep her there until this could be sorted out, but the girl cut and ran into the night. And Michiru sensed it wasn't out of fear.

* * *

Kanami Mizuno looked up from her book when she heard the phone ring. Checking the caller ID, she saw it was Ami calling and picked it up.

"Yes, Ami?" Kanami answered warily. Things had not been pleasant between them recently.

"Mother, I received a visit from a representative of the Miyamoto Institute at the office today. I understand that you submitted a recommendation to them, along with my resume?"

"I did," Kanami replied stonily.

"Don't you think it a bit presumptuous to recommend me for a job without consulting me about it?"

"Perhaps," Kanami conceded, "but I didn't think you'd follow through if I just suggested it to you. You haven't followed through on any of my previous recommendations."

"Mother," Ami said into the phone, holding her forehead, "if I haven't followed through on any of your recommendations, perhaps it's because I didn't think they were right for me at this time."

"And, if I weren't under the impression that your judgment is affected by previous incidents, I would be content to let you follow your judgment," Kanami argued. "But it would be criminal of me to allow you to further waste your potential . . ."

"I am not wasting my potential!" Ami countered.

"You are a general practitioner, Ami," Kanami told her.

"There is nothing wrong with being a general practitioner, Mother!" Ami replied more heatedly. "The world is in great need of general practitioners!"

"Ami, anyone who graduated medical school with competent marks can be a general practitioner," Kanami argued back. "You have a 300 IQ. You have more medical skill than someone ten years your senior in service time. You are more of a doctor than any three other doctors combined. And yet you waste your talents hiding in a general practice office . . ."

"I am not hiding!" Ami snapped.

"You are, and furthermore you are rationalizing to explain it away," Kanami stated adamantly. "Ami, you have an incredible gift and to not use that gift to its fullest extent is unconscionable."

"I'm doing good work, Mother," Ami defended herself.

"You could do better work in a hospital or research setting. Think of all the people you could be helping. Think of all the good you could do for humanity. Isn't that more in line with maximizing your ability than slipping into a safe little cocoon with your best friend's husband in a setting where you won't be challenged and won't have to stand up for yourself?"

"Your analysis is quite to the point, Mother," Ami said stiffly. "Perhaps you should change your practice to psychology."

"I'm only telling you this for your own good, Ami," Kanami replied just as stiffly.

"Yes, because you've ALWAYS known what was for my own good, more so than I ever have. Were you aware that I'm twenty-eight, Mother?"

"It's hard to tell when you act like a rebellious five-year-old."

"Are these the same tactics you used when you drove Dad away?"

"Lashing out like this is hardly in keeping with someone who is twenty-eight and capable of determining her own destiny."

"Mother, please do not make any other attempt to chart my career for me," Ami requested with brutal finality. "I am quite capable of living my life on my own."

"As you wish," Kanami replied archly. "But keep in mind that I consider your present course far below what you could be accomplishing."

"Duly noted," Ami answered. She got a dial tone in her ear for her trouble.

* * *

"Akiko, are you ready for school yet?"

Makoto was washing the breakfast dishes as she did obsessively every morning. Akiko was in the living room, watching cartoons on TV with Ichiro. Sanjuro was scurrying around to get everything he needed before he headed off to the Tokyo docks for his longshoreman job.

"Yes, Mommy!" Akiko called back from the living room, just to get her mother off her back so she could finish watching the show.

"Well stop watching that cartoon and let's go!" Makoto yelled.

"I'm off, Babe," Sanjuro announced. He bent in and kissed his wife.

"OK. Minako said the latest licensing figures are due in."

"Patience, Babe," Sanjuro smiled. "The nest egg isn't ready to hatch quite yet."

"This is worse than being pregnant," Makoto scowled. "At least I knew when that was going to end." She kissed Sanjuro back. "See you, San-San. Be careful."

He nodded and headed for the door. Makoto dried her hands and replaced the towel precisely on the rack. A moment later she was headed for the living room.

"Akiko, let's go!" she fussed. Her daughter and her son were still sitting in front of the television watching their animated show. Ichiro was in his regular clothes, so it wasn't so bad. Akiko, though, was in her school uniform. Makoto turned off the television and faced her children. "Akiko, your uniform is all mussed!"

"Mommy, can I have a Universe Phone?" Akiko asked. Her mother was kneeling next to her, swiping dirt real and imagined off of the girl's pleated black skirt.

"No," Makoto replied, straightening her daughter's black jacket.

"Why not?" Akiko demanded.

"You're too young for a headset phone," Makoto said.

"I'm old enough to go to kindergarten!" Akiko protested.

"Can I have one?" Ichiro ventured.

"No," Makoto said.

"I NEVER GET ANYTHING!" huffed Akiko.

"Come on, it's time to go to school," Makoto told her.

"No!" fumed Akiko.

"March!" Makoto snapped and swatted the girl on her bottom. She snatched up Akiko's hand in hers, then offered her hand to Ichiro. The boy took it because he didn't want to be swatted, too.

Akiko was too young to go to school on her own, at least in Makoto's estimation. Akiko felt differently and that was another bone of contention between the two. But after what had happened the year before, Makoto had decreed that Akiko wasn't walking to school on her own until she was at least sixteen. Ichiro came along, though he was too young to even go to pre-school cram school. Makoto felt he was too young to be left on his own at home.

"I don't know how I'm going to manage this when we open up that bakery," Makoto mused to herself. The three walked down the street, Makoto's hands filled with one of the hands of each of her children.

"We're learning how to play the 'corder in school," Akiko announced. As was the case with Akiko, any confrontation with her mother seemed to pass from her memory the moment something new happened.

"Do you like playing the recorder?" she asked.

Akiko shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

"When can I go to school, Mommy?" Ichiro asked plaintively. Ever since Akiko had gone to pre-school, Ichiro has been chafing to do the same.

"In about a year," Makoto told him.

"Is that after tomorrow?" he asked.

"No, Dummy," Akiko said with the authority of a five year old. "First there's tomorrow, then next week, then next month, then next year. And there's seven days in a week and four weeks in a month, so that's - - well, it's a long time."

"Don't call your brother 'Dummy'," Makoto sighed.

The trio turned a corner and turned into chaos. Traffic was snarling up. A man was on the hood of two cars that had collided head on. He had a woman in his arms. She was struggling to get away from him, but he only laughed and kissed her as she fought to escape him. The man was about twenty, a young urban type either starting up the corporate ladder or still in college. The woman was a young working girl, a sales clerk or receptionist by the way she was dressed. People were gathered around staring at the exhibition with morbid fascination.

"Mommy, look at the funny man!" Ichiro exclaimed.

"Get up here, all you pretty women!" roared the man. The woman in his arms managed to pull away, but only by leaving part of her blouse in his hands. The man laughed loudly to the heavens, tossing the fragment of blouse away.

"Get back, kids. Stay against the wall," Makoto advised her children. She took out her cell phone.

"You calling Auntie Usagi, Mommy?" Akiko asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.

"No, I'm calling the police," Makoto said and Akiko deflated some.

"I want all the pretty women in this area to come up here!" the man demanded. "Come on!" Nobody responded. "You better get up here! Because I've got a bomb here!"

"What?" gasped Makoto.

"And if I don't have a pretty woman in my hands inside of two minutes!" he bellowed. Then he backed into himself with a psychotic smile. "Poof," he said, miming an explosion with his hands.

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. The Confrontation

Devil On My Shoulder

Chapter 4: "The Confrontation"

By Bill K.

Makoto pushed her two children against the side of the wall as far as they could go and shielded them with her body. A man was atop two wrecked cars, snarling traffic, assaulting female passers by and loudly proclaiming that "if all the pretty women didn't come to him within two minutes", he would explode a bomb.

The announcement threw panic through the crowd. Some of the spectators turned and ran, heedless of whether their actions might incite the man to detonate early. Dozens of cell phones came out, contacting police as Makoto already had or loved ones to tell them what was happening. Makoto wanted to flee, wanted to get her children out of harm's way. But she had a duty as a senshi, too, and there was as yet no sign of the police. Fervently, she herded the children around the corner.

"Akiko!" Makoto said sharply, holding the child by the upper arm and leaning into her face for emphasis. "Stay here! Guard your brother. Mommy has to be Sailor Jupiter now. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mommy," Akiko replied with a clarity and a surety that made Makoto's heart leap. Then the child smiled confidently. "Kick his butt, Mommy."

"Watch your language," Makoto told her, but with a wry smile. Then she straightened up and looked around. Everyone's attention was occupied by the strange man on the cars. Makoto's henshin stick appeared.

"Mommy?" Ichiro asked anxiously.

"Shh," Akiko told him conspiratorially. "Mommy's being Sailor Jupiter now. You have to be brave, Ichiro."

The transformation complete, Sailor Jupiter strode around the corner and straight for the man causing all the trouble. Unseen by her, the two children peered around the corner.

"Put down whatever weapon you have now!" Jupiter ordered him.

"Whoa, a Sailor Senshi!" the man exclaimed. "Man, it's true what everybody says about you! You senshi are gorgeous!" His eyes narrowed. "Especially you. What a figure!"

"Don't make me get nasty," Jupiter warned him. The lightning rod extended from her tiara and began sparking.

"Ah ah, Sailor Senshi," the strange man leered at her. "You don't know what kind of ignition I have on these explosives, do you? All it might need is one single spark of electricity."

Jupiter stopped short. She didn't know if he was bluffing or not. Mercury would know. But she didn't know.

"That got your attention, didn't it?" cackled the man. Then his demeanor went from amused to superior. "Now get up here and let's get to know each other a little better."

A hush ran through the crowd. Expectant eyes fell on Sailor Jupiter, silently demanding that she save them from this situation, no matter what it cost her personally. Jupiter stood there, unsure of what to do.

"Tick tock, senshi," the man taunted her. He leaned in. "My lips are hungry for you."

Grimly Jupiter stared at him. Then she started forward, mounting the car. Slowly she approached the man as he confidently waited for her. As she approached, Jupiter towered over the man. He came up to her chest, a situation he didn't seem to mind. Jupiter came to within a foot of the man and stopped, glaring silently at him, seemingly helpless. He grinned.

"How about a kiss, baby?" he leered, leaning in.

Jupiter responded with a lightning-quick palm thrust. It caught him under the chin and drove his jawbone into his skull with enough force to send him falling backwards. But he didn't fall backwards fast enough and Jupiter was able to catch him on the side of the jaw. The blow knocked him off-balance and he rolled down the back hood of the car and onto the street, landing in a heap. As Jupiter jumped down, straddling him in case he still had some fight left, the man looked up at her. His head wobbled and it was obvious he was having trouble focusing.

"Where's the bomb!" Jupiter demanded, her fist cocked.

"You believed that?" slurred the man, grinning like an idiot. "Wow, you women are dumb."

Fortunately for him, the police arrived. They snapped handcuffs on him and hauled him off. As they headed for a police vehicle, Jupiter heard a crunch. Looking down, she saw the remains of a broken Universe Phone. Apparently one of the police officers had stepped on it.

"Thank you, Sailor Jupiter," one of the police officers said. "Can we get you to come with us for a statement?"

"Um, sorry. I can't," Jupiter said, glancing at her two children grinning at her from the corner.

Then she raised her hand to the sky and shouted "Supreme Thunder". A bolt of lightning shot into the sky and then exploded above them, showering the area with light. When the light dissipated, everyone looked around. But Jupiter was gone.

"Hey," one of the crowd asked Makoto as she joined her children, "did you see where Sailor Jupiter went?"

"I think she went that way," Makoto pointed in the opposite direction she was headed. She held out her hands and her children eagerly grasped them. With her children in tow, Makoto headed down the street to school.

"Wow, Mommy, you were so cool!" Akiko exclaimed.

"Akiko," Makoto said surreptitiously. "Secret identity."

Akiko's eyes grew to saucers as she animatedly slapped her hand over her mouth. Ichiro merely stared at his mother with awe.

* * *

Daichi Aino sat at the breakfast table, eating his breakfast and skimming the paper, something he'd done every morning for the last twenty-eight years. Rain or shine, work or off, young or old, he'd followed that same routine. Kimiko looked across the table at him. Nothing about him ever seemed to change except that every day he seemed a little older, a little more stooped and a little more tired. But there was something different about him this morning and Kimiko found herself wishing that her old, predictable Daichi was sitting across from her.

"Daichi," she ventured.

"Yes?" he responded. He didn't even look up from his paper, because he figured it would be one more round of his wife pointing out some flaw in him or their life that she thought should be improved. That never changed, either.

"What's wrong with the Universe Phone?"

Daichi put his paper down and looked at his wife. Instantly she could see this wasn't something he wanted to discuss.

"Why ask me? The marketing department says it's the single greatest invention to . . ." he began.

"Don't evade the subject, please," Kimiko said. Her seriousness struck Daichi. "The way you were with Minako last night - - I've never seen you act that way with her, ever. You were the one who always indulged her, always let her have her way, always bought her every little toy she wanted whether it was good for her or not."

Daichi shifted uncomfortably.

"What is it about the Universe Phone that you don't want Minako being close to?" Kimiko persisted. "Is it dangerous?"

"Nothing's been proven," Daichi mumbled.

"What do you suspect?"

Daichi wouldn't answer.

"Your company is marketing a dangerous product?" Kimiko gasped.

"All of the unsold units have been returned to the factory," Daichi told her. "That's why there was such a shortage for a while. It took a while for the factories to get new product back on the shelves. What's out there now should be perfectly safe."

"Daichi," his wife began, staring him down with that withering look she had, that look that made him fear eternal damnation. "What's wrong with the phone?"

The man sighed and it was like a helium balloon deflating.

"You can't tell anyone this, Kim," he said, softly, served up on a bed of guilt. "Only the people in the company who have to know actually know about this." He swallowed. "Upper management thinks the phones are, somehow, linked with the increase in suicides and civil disobedience we've had lately. I don't know how. If upper management knows, they're not saying."

"That's terrible!" Kimiko gasped. "Are they going to recall the phones they've already sold?"

"No," Daichi admitted, his answer cloaked in guilt.

"Why not?"

"They're afraid of the publicity," Daichi told her. "They're afraid of the negative image it will give the brand."

"That has to be secondary . . ."

"It can't be secondary, Kim," Daichi exclaimed. "Takamoto has been hanging on by a thread ever since the electronics bust a few years ago. It was on the brink, Kim. And the Universe Phone saved us. It's the biggest sensation since Bluetooth. For the company to admit they sold a dangerous product, even unknowingly, would probably pitch Takamoto right over the edge."

"Daichi, that has to be secondary to the lives that may still be at risk from this product," Kimiko pleaded. "They have to say something. And if they won't, you do. You can't just keep quiet and play along like a loyal soldier."

"Kim," Daichi began and his wife saw the terror in his eyes, "if I say anything, that'll be the end of me at Takamoto. Kim, I'm fifty-one. If I lose my job, where am I going to get another one? Nobody's going to hire a middle-level salaryman who isn't loyal to the company. What will we do then?"

"Daichi, we can get by," Kimiko said. "The last thing I want you to do is sacrifice your soul in order to support me."

But Daichi shook his head. "I can't do it, Kim. I can't risk it. This is all I have. This is all I am."

"No, it's not!"

Daichi got up from the table. "Thank you for the food," he mumbled and bowed to her, just like he had for twenty-eight years.

"Daichi!" Kimiko called after him, but he just shuffled into the next room, picked up his satchel, and shuffled out the door.

* * *

Ami pulled into the parking garage underneath the professional building that housed the General Practice office she shared with Mamoru. Once she was out of the car and walking to the elevator, she engaged her cell phone.

"This is Ami, returning your call," she said into the phone.

"Where have you been?" Minako asked on the other end. "I didn't figure you doctors were this busy this early."

"I was driving when you called," Ami replied.

"So?"

"Minako, it is extremely dangerous to drive while talking on a cell phone. Statistically, the percentage of accidents attributable to distracted  
driving . . ."

"Ami, it's too early in the morning for sermons," Minako moaned. "If we didn't have an early call at the studio, I'd still be in bed."

"I believe one of the reasons you're still under suspension is reckless operation due . . ."

"If I want character assassination, I'll call Rei," Minako snorted. "Although she'd have to get a phone first."

"She has one now," Ami related.

"She does? Wow. Hell must have froze over."

"What did you want, Minako? I have patients I have to see."

"Oh, yeah," Minako mumbled. "Um, Ami, have you heard anything weird about the new Universe Phone?"

"No," Ami replied, her curiosity piqued. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I got one. And I showed it to my Dad. And he completely freaked. Snatched it away from me and demanded I don't go near one of them. Which is weird because he works for the company that makes it."

"Your father?" Ami asked. "Your father doesn't strike me as a personality prone to outbursts of temper and emotion."

"You haven't seen him when the Giants are losing," chuckled Minako. "But yeah, it was totally out of left field. I asked him about it, but he wouldn't say what was wrong. He just kept apologizing to me."

"Well, the obvious inference from what you've presented to me is that your father is in possession of some information concerning the Universe Phone that he believes is a possible threat, either to you or in general. Do you still have yours?"

"No, Dad wouldn't give it back and I really didn't feel like asking. I didn't want to risk him blowing up at me again."

"I suppose I could purchase one after work and analyze it with my Mercury computer," Ami mused.

"You're a pal, Ami," Minako said. "I really appreciate you doing this. I'm kind of close to my dad, you know, and this has got me a little spooked."

"Not at all, Minako," Ami said, her tone of voice already far off because she was turning the problem over in her mind. "You've aroused my curiosity."

"Whatever turns you on," Minako chuckled. "Oh, speaking of aroused, I've got to go. Another big kissing scene with Hitaro Tsuko. Oh, the things I do for my craft!"

Ami closed the phone and smirked to herself. Then she headed for her office to get ready for the morning's rush of patients. She nodded to Mamoru in the hall.

* * *

Usagi and Rei walked along the edge of the garden in the shrine at Sendai Hill. Rei was in her priest robes, while Usagi was wearing white slacks and a peach blouse. Rei was carrying a box of cookies.

"Thanks again for coming over last night, Rei," Usagi said. "You were a big help."

"It was perfectly all right," Rei told her. "With the vibes I was getting from you, there wasn't much else I could do. You were coming in pretty strong." She held up the box of cookies. "You didn't have to do this, though."

"Don't worry, I bought them. I didn't bake them," Usagi joked.

"Well I appreciate that. How many did you have?"

Usagi scowled. "Three."

"So are they good?"

"OH, YES! Rei, you HAVE to try them!"

"That's good enough for me," the priest said and snaked her arm into the box.

"It's still kind of hard thinking about it," Usagi said, her mood shifting. "And Mamo-Chan said that this sort of thing is happening more and more. What is it, Rei?"

"Bad economy?" Rei shrugged, part of a cookie in her mouth. "There's a lot more pressure on people these days."

"Maybe it's some gigantic invasion with aliens from some planet who want to drive everybody to suicide so they can destroy the planet and remake it for themselves!" Usagi proposed.

"You've been hanging around Minako too much," Rei scowled.

"Are you kidding! With our history?" Usagi asked. Rei silently conceded the point.

The pair ventured into the shrine, into a room that housed a miniature shrine flanked on either side by rows of candles. While Usagi stood back and watched, Rei padded up softly to the miniature shrine. She knelt down, bowed to the floor and then returned to her kneeling position. Taking a cookie from the box, she bowed her head and, with both hands extended, placed the cookie on the shrine. She bowed to the floor again, then rolled up to her feet and walked back over to Usagi.

"Never hurts to make the boss happy," she winked. Usagi giggled.

Turning to the door, they found a man standing there. Rei instantly took a dislike to him. Even Usagi became uncomfortable.

"May I help you with something?" Rei asked, almost as a challenge.

"Yeah," the man leered, starting forward. "I've always loved mikos."

And in an eye blink, he was on top of Rei, grasping at her, pulling at her robes. Usagi squealed with surprise, then grabbed his jacket and tried to pull him off. Her efforts had very little effect.

"Stop! Stop it!" Usagi exclaimed. She could hear Rei's grunts and gasps of alarm. The man was all over her, clutching and grabbing at her, trying to wrestle her to the floor. His mouth took rude liberties with her neck and shoulder.

Finally tiring of her interference, the man swung wildly and knocked Usagi to the floor. She sat there for a few moments, gathering her wits, then looked up. Rei was still in the grasp of the strange man. However, Usagi saw her friend had pulled out one of her wards. Wrenching away just enough to free her right arm, Rei pressed it to her forehead long enough to recite the sacred chant, then jammed it into her attacker's forehead.

Nothing happened. Her robes pulled down her shoulders as far as they would go, baring them to Usagi and to her attacker. Since the robes couldn't go any farther, Rei had to and she went to the floor in a heap. The man pressed his advantage with demented glee.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" echoed out. Rei glanced over her attacker's shoulder and saw Sailor Moon standing there.

Then she and her attacker were bathed in silver radiation. Rei's anxiety and desperation were replaced with an overwhelming sense of calm. There was a warmth growing within her that blossomed into a wondrous euphoria. Her attacker was in a similar state. He placidly allowed Rei to roll him off of her and scoot away. When Sailor Moon finally pulled the Moon Tier back and stopped showering him with silver energy, the man just lay there and emitted a contented sigh.

"Rei, are you all right?" Sailor Moon wailed as she knelt next to her friend. Rei tugged at her robes until they covered her shoulders once more. It took her a few moments to find words.

"Thank you, Usagi," the priest said, trying to rein in her emotions. "I - - thank you."

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Sailor Moon asked.

"No," Rei answered. "But not for lack of trying."

"What kind of person would do something like that?"

"Not him," Rei replied. Sailor Moon looked at her curiously. "I've looked into the face of evil. I've seen the souls of people who are only out for themselves. He isn't like them. I saw it. It was like something was tempting him - - pushing him over the edge. I kept seeing the words 'you want to do it'."

"I don't understand," Sailor Moon said.

"We all have dark spots in our souls," Rei tried to explain. "Dreams, thoughts, fantasies that we wouldn't ordinarily do." She glanced at Sailor Moon. "Well, most of us do. But ninety percent of us would never do them. We wouldn't have the courage, or our innate morality would stop us, or something. Something would stop us from acting on these secret whims. I read it in people from time to time: secret things that they wonder about, but would never really do."

They looked down at the strange man, a young man in his early twenties who, now that he was lying peacefully on the floor, looked quite respectable.

"Something is breaking down that barrier, Sailor Moon," Rei concluded. "And it's not supernatural. My ward had no effect on him."

"Maybe it is aliens," Sailor Moon said. Rei glared at her.

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. The Consequences

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER

Chapter 5: "The Consequences"

by Bill K.

"And the bill proposed by Dietman Nogura, while well-intentioned and generous in its scope, is at the same time a dangerous gamble with the future of Japan and all of its citizens. These people, our constituents, the people we were elected to safeguard and represent, are on the brink of desperate straits now. To be so reckless with their economic safety and their future well-being is something I, in good conscience, cannot condone. A more conservative approach may not yield the instant success some are looking for, but in the long run . . ."

Shinjiro Hino felt his pager vibrate in his suit breast pocket. Concealing his annoyance, he reached in and silenced the device.

"Forgive me, please," he addressed the Diet. Taking a moment to regain his place in his thoughts, aided by the note cards on the podium, Hino returned to his address. "In the long run, greater economic recovery for more people can be achieved with a more conservative approach. If the opposition insist on pushing for passage of this bill as is, I cannot - - and I will not - - support its passage."

Returning to his seat in the Diet as the gavel pounded and the next speaker was called, Hino pulled out his pager to see what was so important. His subordinates were instructed to use the pager only in a dire emergency, particularly if he was on the Diet floor. The message came up. Hino raised his eyebrow with surprise.

* * *

Entering their apartment, Usagi and Mamoru walked arm in arm. Luna looked up from her perch atop the sofa. Mamoru had put in a hard day at his doctor's office. Usagi's day drawing hadn't been as long, something Luna was just waiting for the proper moment to remind her. Usagi carried a take-out bag from La Café Italian, which would serve as dinner.

"Usagi," Luna said, "you had a phone call while you were out ignoring your deadlines. Superintendent Sakurada would like you to return her call."

"Superintendent Sakurada?" Mamoru asked with some concern. "Is something up?"

"I hope not. That dinner we got looked scrumptious," Usagi pouted. "I wonder if she heard about what happened at the shrine already."

"What happened at the shrine?" Mamoru asked. Luna's attention was caught by that remark, too.

"Superintendent Sakurada, please," Usagi said. "Usagi Chiba returning her call."

"What happened at the shrine?" Mamoru repeated.

Usagi waved him off. "Superintendent? Usagi Chiba. You called me earlier?" Sakurada said something. "Oh, her?" and Usagi glanced at Luna. "She's just, um - - a family friend. We let her stay here sometimes. Ah ha ha ha ha."

Luna rolled her eyes.

"Yes, it's true," Usagi replied. "Well, I told the officer everything that happened." She listened to the reply. "I suppose, if you've got more questions. Tonight? Well, we were just about to have dinner." A pause. "If it's important. An hour will be fine." Again she paused. "Well, I'll see you then. Good-bye."

"What happened at the shrine?" Mamoru almost demanded as Usagi hung up the phone.

"Well, there was this man," Usagi scowled, recalling a memory she didn't like. "And he - - well - - he attacked Rei."

"Was she injured?" gasped Luna.

"No, just shaken up, thankfully," Usagi related. "I was able to become Sailor Moon in time and get him to stop." Usagi thought about it for a moment. "It was strange. He was very apologetic when the police took him away. And Rei said that it was like something was pushing him to do it."

Immediately Luna bounded off the sofa and scurried into the next room. Usagi followed her and found the cat had her laptop out and was contacting Artemis.

"Do you think it's trouble?" Usagi asked, fearing the answer.

"I certainly think it's worth investigating," Luna replied. "Better a wasted effort investigating nothing than be taken by surprise." She looked up at Usagi. "Go and have your supper, Usagi. Save me a portion for later, please. Oh, and do close the door on your way out. We wouldn't want Superintendent Sakurada to see me like this, would we?"

"I'd love to see how she'd react to it," Usagi mumbled, grinning to herself as she closed the door.

* * *

Ami Mizuno put her purse on the counter of her apartment's kitchen, then walked into the living room. She set the electronics store bag on the table and went into the bedroom to change.

More comfortable, she returned to the living room and removed the item from the bag. It was a Universe Phone. Removing the device from its package, Ami turned it over in her hands, examining the device from every angle. To her initial examination, it seemed to be a typical miniature headset cell phone. In fact, she really couldn't see what seemed to make it so much better than any other brand of headset cell phone.

"So a closer inspection is in order," Ami said to herself, rising to her feet. Her henshin stick appeared and she cried out, "Mercury Crystal Power Make Up!"

After transforming to Sailor Mercury, she summoned her computer. Engaging the computer's powerful sensor array, Mercury skimmed the data broadcast back to the computer.

"Hmm," Mercury mused to herself, analyzing the data before her.

"Toshi, I'm sorry! I'm tired! It's been a long day!" Minako howled. She was in the apartment she shared with her husband Toshihiro and her buddy Artemis. Dressed in old jogging shorts and a floppy pink tank top, with bunny slippers on over tube socks, she was trying to go to bed.

"You've been tired a lot recently," Toshihiro scowled.

"Well, I'm working on a movie AND studying the scripts for the new season!" Minako countered. "It's a lot of work!"

"Maybe you're just tired of coming back here," Toshihiro scowled.

"What's that mean?" Minako demanded.

"I can imagine you'd be tired of coming back here. I'm not Hitaro Tsuko after all."

"Oh, here we go again," Minako rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you that I am not playing around with Hitaro Tsuko?"

"Maybe if you weren't anchored to me, you could," Toshihiro shot back.

"Maybe if you weren't such a raving paranoid, it wouldn't matter!" Minako roared back. Then the phone rang. She snatched it up. "What?"

"Minako?" Ami said with a start. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Yes, fortunately," Minako said, glaring at Toshihiro. "Here, say something so Toshi knows it isn't Hitaro Tsuko," and she jammed the phone into the air. Toshihiro turned his back to her.

"Um, I can call back," Ami offered.

"No, what is it," Minako persisted.

"I analyzed one of those Universe Phones, as you asked me."

"Yeah, what did you find?" Minako gasped, intensely interested now.

"Nothing," Ami reported. "I checked the construction, the circuitry, the programming, everything. It's a normal miniature headset cell phone. Nothing unusual or remarkable about it in any way."

"Huh," Minako grunted. "Then what's up with Dad?"

* * *

In a dark side street in residential Tokyo, a car waited. No one was on the street. No one observed the car. Shinjiro Hino had made certain of that.

A shadowy figure walked up to the car and got in. Hino didn't put the lights on inside the car.

"This is a transcript of everything Keiko told me over the phone," the shadowy man said, handing a nine by twelve envelope to the Dietman. "I have the tape, too, in case we ever need corroboration."

"Summarize it for me," Hino requested.

"One of the top execs of Takamoto Telecom apparently came to Nogura, looking for some sort of legal protection. Apparently they've got a problem with one of their products and it's big enough that they're worried about getting snowed under with bad publicity and liability suits."

"Takamoto Telecom were large contributors to both the Democrats and the LDP," Hino mused. "They would expect protection and naturally would go to the party in power to get it." Hino turned back to his operative. "I'm surprised Nogura would talk about something like that out of school."

"You haven't seen Keiko work," the shadowy man said. "Are you going to use this against Nogura?"

"That would be too crude," Hino replied. "Playing the crusading protector of the people would net me some short term gain, but would backfire with the corporate donors in the long run. But this is valuable information. You and Keiko have returned my investment. Keep it up and let me know if you find anything else."

The man in the shadows nodded and exited the car. Hino surreptitiously engaged his car's engine and calmly pulled away. No need to attract undue attention.

* * *

"And you or Hino-Sensei couldn't determine why the attack took place?" Superintendent Sakurada asked. She was sitting in a living room chair across from Usagi and Mamoru on the sofa.

"No, Sakurada-San," Usagi shook her head. "There didn't seem anything unusual about him - - besides acting like a street thug."

"And Hino-Sensei couldn't tell anything with her special powers?" Sakurada asked.

"Just what I told you, Usagi related. "She thought something was controlling him, but all she could tell about it was that it wasn't supernatural."

"Is this some sort of conspiracy?" Mamoru asked the police superintendent.

"It's too soon to label it that," Sakurada judged. "But these events are interconnected. There are too many incidents of otherwise normal people committing unusual acts of violence or civil disobedience. And the fact that the incidents have begun to decrease is curious, too."

"Well that's a good thing, isn't it?" Usagi asked.

"In one respect, but it doesn't dissuade me from thinking that these incidents are the result of some external force," Sakurada told her. "I hate to impose on you, Mrs. Chiba, but would it be possible for you to get Venus-Chan's team involved in this? With implications of mass mind-control and possible conspiracies by external agencies, it sounds like something that's right up the senshi's alley."

"Well," Usagi began, thinking of Luna in the bedroom, "we've already begun to look into things. I know we're a little late . . ."

"Thank you," Sakurada smiled. "Knowing the Sailor Senshi are involved makes me feel that much more confident. Between my boys and Venus-Chan's team, we should be able to run this down in no time." Sakurada got up and bowed to Usagi and Mamoru. "Thank you for your assistance. And thank you for taking time to speak with me."

Usagi and Mamoru bowed in return and escorted the police superintendent to the door. But Sakurada paused at the door and turned back to them.

"Was there something else?" Mamoru asked.

"Well," Sakurada hesitated, "have either of you heard anything from the set of Aino-Chan's new movie? Anything at all?" And suddenly the intense police official was transformed into a fan-girl.

"Um," Usagi began uncomfortably, "well. . . she likes kissing Hitaro Tsuko."

"Oh, I bet she does!" squealed Sakurada girlishly. "I wouldn't mind kissing him myself!"

* * *

The phone rang. Setting down her sketch pad, Michiru leaned over and answered it.

"Haruka!" she exclaimed. "Where are you?"

"Still in Italy," the woman replied. "I'm stuck under some weather here. They can't take off. The lightning is pretty bad."

"That's too bad. What are your chances?"

"Fifty-fifty right now. If I can't get a flight out of here today, me and the crew will just have to go on to Belgium."

"Oh, Junko will be sorry to hear that," Michiru smirked.

"Just Junko?" Haruka asked.

"Well, maybe somebody else," Michiru replied coyly. "Congratulations again on winning Sunday."

"Thanks. This gives me a really solid lead in the points. I'd have to miss the next race completely to give the pack a chance to catch up to me. So, anything happening back there?"

"I talked to Setsuna yesterday. She's gearing up for the new quarter at the university. Oh, and one of your groupies showed up here last night."

"Was she pretty?" taunted Haruka.

"As if I'd tell you," Michiru volleyed back.

"Sorry, Michiru. It's the price of being a gorgeous international media star. Make it up to you when I get back. Got to run now."

"Be careful," Michiru answered. "And stay away from the pretty girls. I love you."

"Love you, too."

The call disconnected. Michiru hung up the phone and rubbed her index finger across the receiver as she recalled every word Haruka had said to her.

Then the lights went out. Looking around, Michiru could see little in the darkened house. As she got up, feeling her way through the living room to the kitchen, the artist wondered if it was a fuse in the house or a local blackout. Making her way along the wall into the kitchen by a combination of feeling along the wall and remembering the layout of the room, Michiru felt her way to a drawer in a cabinet. There she found what she was looking for: a flashlight.

"Well, the neighbors have lights," Michiru murmured, peering out the back door as she engaged the flashlight. "It must be a fuse. I hope I remember what Haruka told me on how to change them."

She started for the basement, then froze. Michiru listened intently. She didn't hear it now, but she knew she had heard it. Someone else was in the room. Michiru had heard them take a shallow breath.

Taking a moment to mentally calculate where the breath had come from, Michiru whirled around in the dark and shined the flashlight in that direction. The beam of light caught a figure directly in the face. It was the young groupie from last night. She was squinting, angling her face away from the light.

And she was holding a carving knife.

Michiru lunged to disarm her. The girl responded with a wild slash of the carving knife. In an effort to avoid the slash, Michiru dropped the flashlight. It clattered to the floor, its beam illuminating part of the floor from the table to the sink. The intruder's feet passed through the beam, giving Michiru an idea of where she was. That allowed her to avoid the second slash.

"What are you doing?" demanded Michiru, moving after she spoke so as not to become a target.

"I can't have Haruka until you're out of the way!" she exclaimed. "So you're going to die!"

She said it so proudly that Michiru at once questioned the girl's sanity. But that was speculation for another time. Using the sound of her voice and the bare outline cast on the girl's body by the faint light from the back door, Michiru got a fix on her attacker's position. When the girl slashed again, Michiru grabbed her arm on the follow through and twisted her to the floor. On the floor, the two females wrestled for control of the situation. The blade of the knife would occasionally catch the faint light from the door and momentarily glint. Michiru used all she knew of leverage to keep the girl down and at bay, but the teen's strength was as someone possessed.

"Ahhhh!" Michiru exclaimed as the blade got too close and sliced across her bare thigh.

The pain allowed the girl to twist free. She rose up to her knees, bringing the blade up in order to plunge it into Michiru. But at that moment, enough light caught the hand and the blade to silhouette it. Desperately Michiru threw her hands up against the girl's wrist. Her hand slammed the captured wrist against the edge of the counter top and jarred the knife loose. Pulling back to avoid the blade, Michiru wasn't able to keep control of the girl. Desperately her attacker retreated out the back door. Michiru scrambled up after her, but when she got to the door, her attacker had disappeared into the night.

Breathing harder than she normally would, Michiru reached for the flashlight. Shining it on her thigh, she saw the streak of red bisecting her creamy skin. Cursing softly, she poured disinfectant on it, then packed a torn towel against the cut and tied it off with strips.

"Lucky for me she didn't hit a major artery," Michiru said to herself to keep up her flagging spirits.

Taking the flashlight, Michiru scanned the floor of the kitchen to be certain her attacker had fled. The knife lay by the cabinet, streaks of her own blood on the blade.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. The Investigation

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER

Chapter 6: "The Investigation"

by Bill K.

Picking the carving knife up off the kitchen floor, Michiru Kaioh walked with it into the living room. The wound on her leg didn't sting, but she could feel the wrap over it press against the muscles of her thigh. Handling the knife obscured any possible finger prints that might have still been on the handle. Michiru wasn't concerned about that, though. The police weren't going to be involved. Michiru had the power to solve this herself and she intended to solve it herself. She set the knife down on the table, set the flashlight down next to it so she had some light, then held out her hand. Her henshin stick appeared in it.

"Neptune Planet Power Make Up!" she called out. The transformation took hold.

Sailor Neptune looked down. There was no wound on her leg. It was one of the peculiarities of her transformation. Sailor Neptune never had wounds Michiru Kaioh had suffered. Similarly Michiru never suffered from injuries Sailor Neptune had suffered.

Holding her hand above her, Neptune felt the Deep Aqua Mirror materialize in it. Neptune sat down on the sofa in front of the table. She touched the knife handle for good measure, then passed her free hand over the face of the mirror. The lovely senshi went into a light trance gazing into the face of the mirror. To anyone watching, only her face was reflected in the mirror. But she saw something quite different. Time passed. Her head would move slightly. Occasionally her mouth would form a word, but no sound would come.

At last, Sailor Neptune came out of the trance. Her head drooped and the mirror dangled from a limp hand. Several deep breaths later, Neptune was clear enough and revived enough to move.

The Deep Aqua Mirror faded away. Sailor Neptune stood up and walked out to the garage connected to the house. In the garage was the second car their little family possessed. Since Haruka was so protective and so possessive about her special edition Fiat, Michiru had bought herself a fuel-efficient Nissan Altima Hybrid just to get around in. She almost didn't after Haruka gave her the "hurt puppy dog" face when confronted with the prospect of not being able to drive her around. But common sense and necessity won out. Getting into the car, Sailor Neptune signaled the garage door opener, then headed out in her car to confront a knife-wielding sixteen year old at her place of residence.

* * *

Daichi Aino looked across the table at his wife silently eating. Normally she would be picking apart everything he did wrong, everything everybody else did wrong, and relating everything that had happened in her day, good and bad. He never thought he'd miss that, but every time she gave him the silent treatment he realized that he did.

"OK, so you think I'm wrong in following orders and covering this up," he sighed, letting his fork of pork slip to his plate.

"Does it matter what I think?" Kimiko scowled. She didn't look at him.

"I wouldn't have stayed married to you this long if it didn't," he replied. "Kim, I'm sorry if I've disillusioned you."

"I am not the naive ronin you married, Daichi," Kim said, finally looking at him. "The years have forced me to grow up. I understand that we always have to make choices in our lives, and often they're difficult ones. Ones that we regret for a long time. But there is such a thing as right and wrong, Daichi. Sometimes doing what's right is more important than being a loyal soldier."

"What if there is no 'right'?" Daichi sighed. "If I don't say something, one group of people are harmed by the effects of the phone and the ones who were already harmed don't know who to seek justice from. If I do say something, another group loses their livelihood in a bad economy, people who had nothing to do with what was done other than be 'good soldiers'." He sagged back in the chair and adjusted his thick black glasses. "No matter what I do, I'm hurting someone."

He glanced back at Kim and saw the sympathy she had for him.

"I know it's a tough choice," Kim said. "Maybe it would be an easier choice to make if you knew why the phone was dangerous."

"I'd need an R and D clearance to find that out," Daichi surmised. "I'm not that high up. We only found out about the danger after upper management sent down an internal memo detailing our company's stance if certain questions came up."

"Do you still have the memo?"

"It's probably in the delete basket of my e-mail at work," Daichi shrugged. "I never permanently delete any e-mail I get at work. There are too many idiots who'll send something out and then claim the next day that they didn't."

"Print it out tomorrow and bring a copy home," Kim suggested. "Maybe then we can figure out just how dangerous this is after we read it."

Daichi thought it over. "It can't hurt, I suppose," he sighed.

"Good," Kim smiled. "Now sit up straight. You can't digest properly if you slouch like that."

A smile spread across Daichi's face. That was the woman he married.

* * *

"Well, it certainly is a disturbing picture," Luna said as she looked at the statistics she'd compiled. Artemis was on the other end of a real time optical connection attached to the laptops. Gathered news reports from the past six weeks had started the compilation. Artemis added crime statistics which he'd hacked from the police department computers. Luna, as usual, had assembled the facts into a coherent report. "I can see why Superintendent Sakurada is worried."

Loud sounds came through the connection from the other end.

"Artemis, what is going on over there?" Luna demanded.

"Minako and Toshihiro are having a fight," Artemis scowled. "Toshihiro is jealous of Minako's new part. It has too many, um, 'intimate' scenes with Hitaro Tsuko for his liking."

"Hmm, Hitaro Tsuko, eh?" Luna murmured dreamily. "He is quite tempting - - quite tempting."

"Suddenly I understand Toshihiro's side of things," Artemis said sourly.

"Oh, um, yes, well, to work," Luna sputtered, shaking herself. "The incidents seem to spike roughly six weeks ago, rather than gradually build. The key, I would think, would be to specify what event occurred to cause this spike in abnormal behavior. Do you have any records of any abnormalities about that time?"

"Nothing. I checked and it was completely normal during the specified time period."

Luna frowned. "I'm pulling up the news reports for that period. Nothing unusual. In fact, the news reports seem to be dominated by this silly new phone that everyone is overwhelmed by. All the press can do is either write about what a marvel it is or report on the throngs of eager buyers . . ."

"Luna, what if that's our event?" Artemis suggested.

"All of this caused by a silly phone?"

"What if it's not just a silly phone?" the white cat continued. "What if something is concealed inside the phone?"

"Mind control?" Luna asked.

"It was a favorite trick of the Dark Kingdom," Artemis said. "Sabotage something so it either controls the victim or extracts energy from them, then aggressively market it and create a rush among the consumers to buy it. It would explain a lot of what's happened over the last six weeks."

"Except for what this mystery foe hopes to gain," Luna countered.

"Chaos? A feint, maybe? Keep them watching the right hand while the left hand reaches for the knife?"

"A grisly example, but your point is taken," Luna nodded. "Do we know who created this little device?"

"Takamoto Telecom," Artemis reported. "Minako's father works there. They're pretty established. Hardly a fly-by-night front like the Dark Kingdom used to use. It's possible Takamoto has been infiltrated."

"Or just as possible someone at Takamoto is the mastermind behind this. Artemis, can you get into Takamoto's computer files? We'd need a schematic of the device's construction, as well as research and development notes, marketing memos, sales plans and such."

"Well, there goes that night's sleep," sighed Artemis.

"You sleep enough in the daytime, you lazy wretch!"

* * *

"And we cut shapes out of colored paper," Akiko related to her family at the dinner table, "and then we pasted them onto more paper and made animals out of the shapes!"

"That's interesting," Sanjuro feigned as he downed his second helping of beef stew. The huge longshoreman was always little Akiko's best audience, even better than young Ichiro. "Then what happened?"

"Then we had to go home," Akiko deflated.

"Don't make it sound like a prison sentence, Kiddo," Makoto smirked. "Now finish your beans."

"I don't want them," Akiko scowled.

"Eat them. They're good for you."

"I want ice cream instead."

"No ice cream until you finish your beans," Makoto told her.

"Slave driver," muttered Akiko.

"Akiko, that is NOT what a lady would say!" Makoto warned her.

"Had the weirdest thing happen at work today, Babe," chuckled Sanjuro.

"C'n I have more beans?" Ichiro asked.

"It's 'may I have more beans'," Makoto corrected him. "And yes you may."

"He can have mine," grumbled Akiko.

Makoto glared at her daughter. "What happened at work, San-San?"

"You remember me telling you about Takashi Amano?" Sanjuro asked.

"Works on the docks with you?" Makoto asked. "You and he have those idiotic contests to see who can lift the most?"

"That's him. Well it's the middle of shift and everybody's working. Suddenly the foreman notices Amano is gone. Everybody looks around while the foreman yells for him. Then, out of the blue, here comes Amano running across the dock totally naked, hollering and waving his shirt like a banner."

"Ha ha, that's funny!" giggled Akiko. Ichiro laughed because he saw his sister do it.

"Why would he do that?" Makoto marveled.

"That's what everybody asked him when they finally caught him," Sanjuro continued. "He just said he'd always wanted to do it, but never had the nerve before. All of a sudden he got the notion in his head that he wanted to do it, so he did it."

"Is he in trouble?"

"Might be. He's probably going to be suspended. He might even get fired."

Just then the phone rang. Akiko started to get out of her chair to answer it, but Makoto sprang up and beat her to it.

"Hey, Usagi," Makoto smiled when she recognized the voice on the phone. "Tomorrow? Yeah, I can make it. Something up?" She listened to Usagi's response. "Sakurada, huh? Must be important. Yeah, I'll be there. Can we make it at the shrine? That way I can bring Ichiro along and we can all watch him." Usagi replied. "Well, you know how they are when they're two. Blondie and Ami going to be able to make it?" She listened to Usagi. "I guess that's how it'll have to be. See you tomorrow, Usagi."

"Something up?" Sanjuro asked.

"Maybe," Makoto replied. "Usagi said Superintendent Sakurada asked us to look into something. I'll call you if you need to pick up Akiko at school."

"Are you and Auntie Usagi going to go kick Dark Kingdom butt?" Akiko exclaimed.

"Akiko!" Makoto barked, but with a smile on her face. "Language!"

* * *

Nine twenty p.m. at the Yakino residence, Hiroki Yakino answered his front door. There he found one of the Sailor Senshi standing on the small porch. To say the least, he was startled.

"Do you have a daughter who lives here?" Sailor Neptune asked, calmly but forcefully. "She's about sixteen, with long black hair pinned back at the shoulders?"

"Sakiko?" he asked reflexively.

"May I speak with her, please?"

"What do you want her for? Who are you?" Hiroki demanded. By now his wife, Kiyone, had joined him. They were approaching middle age, your average typical middle class Japanese family.

"I am Sailor Neptune," Neptune told them. "Your daughter has been implicated in an attack on a woman not far from here."

"My Sakiko? Impossible!" gasped the woman.

"We can clear this up if you'll let me speak with her," Neptune replied.

"How do we know who you're who you say you are?" Hiroki began, his belligerence growing. "You come here, you make wild accusations against my daughter. How do we know you're who you say you are?"

"Would I be dressed like this if I honestly wasn't a Sailor Senshi?" Neptune replied with a wry smile, her hands gesturing at the white sailor tunic, short green skirt and green bow at her bodice.

"Anyone can wear a costume," Hiroki scowled. "And I've never heard of a Sailor Neptune."

Neptune sighed. She raised her hand into the air. Before the amazed eyes of the Yakinos, the Deep Aqua Mirror appeared in her hand. Neptune brought it down and pointed the face of the mirror at the sidewalk behind her.

"Submarine Reflection," Neptune said calmly.

A crimson beam of light shot out from the face of the mirror. It struck the corner of the sidewalk just by the grass line. The concrete corner exploded, throwing concrete dust and fragments, and a small clump of dirt and grass five feet into the air. The sound, almost like the detonation of a small grenade, echoed through the quiet residential neighborhood. Neptune turned back to the Yakinos.

"Convinced?" she asked. "Your daughter has done something very serious. I don't want to involve the police if I can avoid it, but I'll call them if I must."

"C-Come in," Hiroki murmured. Ushering Sailor Neptune into the house, Hiroki went to the bottom of the stairs. "Sakiko!" he called up the stairs. "Come down here!" As they waited, Neptune studied the faces of the two people. They were nervous and anxious, but not as if they were hiding something. Rather, their mood could be explained by concern over their daughter, suddenly in an unknown and potentially dangerous situation. Neptune sympathized, but cautioned herself to remain neutral. "SAKIKO!" Hiroki called again.

When no response came, Hiroki climbed the stairs to the second floor. Neptune followed him, so Kiyone followed them both. At the top of the stairs, the father went straight for a bedroom with a closed door and went in without knocking. Before following, Neptune noted two other children in a second bedroom, a boy age fourteen and a girl age eleven, peering out of the doorway.

Inside the bedroom, the walls were covered with pictures and posters of Haruka Tenoh, in civilian clothing and in her racing gear. It was typical teenage overkill. The room was almost a shrine to Haruka. Noticing a book on the desk, Neptune picked it up and leafed through it. In the book were more pictures of Haruka, along with clippings of her races and handwritten poems and short stories of imagined romantic trysts between Sakiko and Haruka. If Neptune had seen this before tonight, she might have thought it humorous.

"She's not here," Hiroki announced, though everyone could see it. He turned to Sailor Neptune. "Where is my daughter?"

"I was hoping she was here," Neptune replied. "Has she been a - - fan - - of Haruka Tenoh long?"

"A few months," her mother shrugged. "Last year it was Hitaro Tsuko. It's just a phase girls go through. Why? What's happened?"

"Earlier this evening," Neptune began, "your daughter went to Haruka Tenoh's home and tried to kill her wife with a carving knife."

Kiyone's eyes bulged. Her hands flew up to her mouth, covering the gasp that escaped. The woman ran from the room and down the stairs, flying past the two younger children.

"You saw this?" demanded Hiroki.

"I did," Neptune replied. "Has she ever displayed any sort of obsessive behavior in the past?"

"Sakiko?" Hiroki mumbled in shock. "No. She's always been a good girl. She's a straight A student. She's the class rep! She's never been in trouble! Maybe she's a little shy about boys. It concerned me a little that this Tenoh person was a woman, but she's such a manly woman . . ."

Kiyone returned to the room. "The carving knife is missing out of the kitchen drawer!" She went up to Sailor Neptune. "What happened? What would make her do something like this? Sakiko isn't a bad girl! What made her snap like this?"

"Has she experienced a recent setback or loss of some kind in her life?" Neptune asked.

"No! She's had everything she could want! She's good in school, she's got friends, she was happy!" Kiyone wailed.

"Not recently," the youngest girl spoke up. Everyone turned to her.

"Miyako?" the mother inquired.

"The last few weeks she's been totally obsessing on Haruka Tenoh," Miyako, a thin young girl with straight black hair and big soulful eyes. "It's all she talked about - - all she thought about. I made a joke about it last week and she bit my head off. She threatened me if I didn't take it back."

"When was this?" Kiyone asked.

"Last week. Friday, I think."

"Do you remember when this behavior started?" Neptune asked, leaning in to try to seem less intimidating.

"A few weeks ago," Miyako murmured. "Right after Dad got her that Universe Phone."

The boy nodded in confirmation. Immediately Neptune canvassed the room, looking for the Universe Phone. But all she could find was the box.

"I'm going to take this with me, if it's all right," Neptune said. She picked up a piece of paper and wrote down a phone number. "If Sakiko does return home, please call this number immediately. If you fear for her safety or your own, call the police as well. But please be careful. She's potentially dangerous in this state. I'll try to find her on my own."

"Please don't hurt her," Hiroki pleaded. "She's not responsible for her actions. She can't be. This isn't the girl we've raised for sixteen years!"

"I'll try my best," Sailor Neptune said, then headed for the door.

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. The Meeting

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER

Chapter 7: "The Meeting"

by Bill K.

In his living room at home, Shinjiro Hino studied the transcript of the conversation between his political rival Daisuke Nogura and his mistress Keiko, who Nogura didn't know was on Hino's payroll. In the transcript, Nogura made references to a potential problem one of his major contributors, Takamoto Telecom, was facing. The CEO of Takamoto Telecom had come to him seeking some sort of legal protection against product liability, fearing his company would suffer an avalanche of liability suits in the near future that would bankrupt the firm.

Hino sat in the solitude of his living room and thought. Given the recent history of Takamoto Telecom, the only product they made that could possibly generate such a deadly amount of liability suits was their recently introduced Universe Phone. None of their other products generated the sales that it did. And if a liability concern had the CEO of Takamoto this nervous, it had to be big.

And perhaps he wouldn't care who protected him from it. Takamoto Telecom had contributed to both parties, but with the Democrats in power, the majority of their contributions had shifted. If Hino could solve their problem for them, their financial gratitude could only help shift the balance of power in Diet politics back to the Liberal Democrats.

But he'd have to know what was happening first. Taking his cell phone from his jacket, Hino punched in a number.

"Yes?" the rough voice on the other end inquired.

"I have a job for you," Hino said. "I need to know everything there is to know about Takamoto Telecom's Universe Phone. Everything."

"How long do I have?"

"As soon as possible."

"I'll have to bring in other people. It'll be expensive."

"I'm aware of the going rates," Hino replied. "Do whatever you need to do, but do it fast."

"I'll have a first report this time tomorrow," was the response.

Hino disconnected and went to his computer. He pulled up financial reports on Takamoto Telecom and began to study them.

* * *

The next morning found Rei Hino out early, as was her habit. It was overcast in early September, but still warm and humid. Despite the sticky weather, Rei walked out onto the grounds of the shrine in full robes. Akira-Sensei was talking to a pair of teenage girls. Rei recognized them as a pair who often frequented the shrine and often specifically looked Akira-Sensei up. She waited until they departed to walk up to him.

"Those two seem to be enamored with you," Rei smiled.

"They're desperate for spiritual guidance," Akira replied.

"They're desperate for something," Rei smirked, "but I wouldn't bet on it being spiritual."

"Just don't tell my wife. I'll never hear the end of it," Akira responded. Rei chuckled.

"I'll be spending some time inside with Usagi and Makoto," she told him. "I'm - - helping them with a problem. I'd appreciate it if you could handle things out here."

"Consider it done," Akira assured her. "I believe that's Chiba-San coming up the steps now."

"What tipped you?" Rei smiled. "The huffing and puffing?"

Rei walked over to where Usagi was bent double, trying to take in more oxygen than was humanly possible.

"You added more steps!" she gasped. "Admit it!"

"I did no such thing," Rei sniffed haughtily. "It just takes a lot of effort to haul that big butt of yours up the stairs."

"REI HINO, I DO NOT HAVE A BIG BUTT!" Usagi bellowed. Everyone on the grounds looked at her. Embarrassed, Usagi shrank into herself. "You planned that."

"As if I would waste the effort," Rei scowled. The two women headed into the shrine. Inside, they found Makoto watching Ichiro scrawl all over the page of a coloring book with a crayon. They both looked up.

"Auntie Usagi!" Ichiro exclaimed and ran over. Usagi sank to her knees and scooped the child up in her arms.

"Ichiro! How's my favorite guy!" Usagi exclaimed, hugging the boy. "Oh, you just get more cuter every time I see you!" She sat the boy back down on his feet, then went digging in her purse. "And I bet I have something for you!"

"Usagi!" groaned Makoto. Usagi made a face at her friend.

"Here you go," she smiled and handed a piece of candy to Ichiro. Ichiro took it and beamed at her.

"Thank you, Auntie Usagi," Ichiro said.

"And you didn't even have to tell him," Rei marveled.

"He's a sharp one," Makoto said proudly. She gestured and Ichiro came back to her. "Now take your coloring book over there, Champ. Mommy and your Aunts have to talk about something." Ichiro nodded and went over to a spot in the corner.

"Oh, I hope I remember how to do this," Usagi said. She took a laptop out of her bag and put it in the center of the table. Opening it, she typed the words "call Luna" on the keyboard, then sat back.

Nothing happened.

"Uh oh," Makoto said.

"Rei?" Usagi asked.

"Don't look at me! I just got a phone in this place!" Rei replied. "I barely know how to turn on the one Ami gave me." The three of them stared helplessly as the cursor on the screen blinked at them.

"Aren't you supposed to hit 'enter' or something?" Makoto asked with uncertainty.

Usagi grimaced and pushed the button like she thought it would explode in her face. The screen flickered and then Luna's face appeared. In smaller boxes along the left side were the faces of Artemis, Minako and Ami.

"Honestly, Usagi, what took you so long?" Luna fussed. Usagi scowled in response. "We've made some initial inquiries concerning the recent rash of anti-social and otherwise bizarre behavior, on behalf of Superintendent Sakurada."

"She says 'hi', Minako," Usagi interjected.

"I'll bet," grinned Minako. "Did she pump you for info about the movie?"

"IF I MAY CONTINUE," Luna exclaimed. "Artemis and I have come to the conclusion that the cause of this behavior may be some form of mind-altering feature of this Universe Phone that's sweeping the nation."

"No way!" gasped Minako. "Next you'll be saying that Takamoto Telecom has been taken over by alien demons out to destroy us and steal our energy!"

Artemis looked away.

"You are kidding, Fuzz Ball! My dad works for them!"

"Weren't you telling me that your dad was acting really strange at dinner a few nights ago?" Artemis defended himself. "And it was all over your new Universe Phone?"

Everyone at the shrine looked at Minako's image.

"What are you saying, that my dad is possessed by alien boogie-men?" Minako growled.

"We haven't settled on a motive or culprit yet, Minako," Luna said. "But the time line makes for a suspicious coincidence and it must be investigated."

"We already have investigated it," Ami piped up. "Minako was equally suspicious of her father's behavior. I obtained a Universe Phone and thoroughly analyzed it. I found nothing that would indicate anything other than a standard short-wave telecommunications device."

"Well, that shoots down that theory," Artemis mumbled.

"But maybe you're on the right track," Rei suggested. "That man Usagi and I encountered was definitely being influenced by an outside force. Maybe it is a 'mind-control device' or a 'inhibition relaxer' or something. And maybe Takamoto Telecom is connected. And maybe your dad knows something about it and is afraid to say anything."

"Boy, I'd hate to think he'd be so afraid that he'd let innocent people suffer," Minako shook her head.

"We all know how hard it is to be a hero when you've got something to lose," Usagi offered. "Maybe you should talk to him?"

"I did," sighed Minako. "But I can talk to him again."

"I can come with you," Rei offered. Minako grimaced.

"I'd," she said haltingly, "rather you didn't." Rei winced slightly.

"I understand," the priest nodded. She was used to people being wary of her. Sometimes she saw too much.

"Luna and I will keep digging into Takamoto's computer files," Artemis told them.

"I'll review your work and consider the problem on my own," Ami added. "Perhaps I can ascertain something from the data that you haven't."

"Quite," nodded Luna. "Everyone else, be alert for any other demonstrations of odd or destructive behavior. Try to observe whether the person committing these acts have any sort of electronic devices on their person or show any signs of mind control or mental influence. Superintendent Sakurada is of the opinion that this problem has been responsible for dozens more deaths and injuries than normal and I agree, so it's imperative that we nip this problem quickly."

"Agreed," Makoto said and everyone nodded in agreement. When the computer communication went dark, Usagi gathered the laptop up and then headed straight for the door.

"Where are you headed?" Rei asked.

"I've got an idea," Usagi replied and was out the door. Rei and Makoto looked at each other.

"Oh, I don't like the sound of that," Rei murmured, lurching to her feet as Makoto shook her head.

* * *

It had been a fruitless night of searching for Sakiko Yakino and Michiru was frankly tired. She'd spent the morning supervising the replacement of the meter box on the outside of the house. Apparently Sakiko had deliberately cut power to the house by smashing the electric meter box outside with a large rock. It was a miracle the girl hadn't been electrocuted. That took most of the morning. More undesired news followed when Haruka phoned from Italy. Weather and mechanical problems with the plane had forced her to stay overnight in the city, so to keep her schedule she would by flying on to Belgium rather than make a one-day commute all the way to Japan. It was for the best and Michiru told her mate so. The last thing Michiru wanted was Haruka driving a car at 200 miles per hour while she was jet-lagged and drowsy from lack of sleep. Haruka protested that she could do it, but they both knew that it was the right course.

But that left Michiru all alone in the house with an obsessed teenage girl possibly not in her right mind stalking her. And, for all her experience as a senshi facing death and violence, that made her uneasy. The possibility of Sakiko Yakino slipping into the house while she slept and slitting her throat was very real. As the electric company people packed up their equipment, Michiru thought the problem over. Then she brought out her cell phone.

"I hate to impose, Setsuna," Michiru said after contacting Setsuna Meioh at the university, "but there's a problem at the house and I can't stay here. Would it be possible to stay with you?"

"Of course," Setsuna answered. "I would be only too delighted to host you. Will Haruka be accompanying you?"

"No, she's stuck in Europe. Setsuna, it may be for more than one day."

"All the better for me if it is," Setsuna told her. "Do you still have the key I gave you?"

"I do. Thank you, Setsuna. I'll brief you about the problem more thoroughly when you get home." Michiru hung up and went inside.

After packing a small case with a few changes of clothes and a few necessities, the artist went out to the garage and started the Nissan Altima. Pulling out into the street, she headed for Setsuna's home.

She was stopped at an intersection when it happened. Without warning, a car rammed into the back of the Altima. Michiru was momentarily shocked, and then momentarily angry at the unnecessary complication in her life. But then she realized that the car that hit her was still in drive and that it was trying to push her into crossing traffic. Her foot jammed on the brake as hard as it would go. Though the tires wouldn't move, the Altima was still inching through the crosswalk. Pedestrians stopped and pointed. Michiru engaged the parking brake, then looked behind her.

Sakiko Yakino was behind the wheel. Her face was one huge mask of desperation and single-minded thought. Smoke began to emerge as both Michiru's tires and Sakiko's were wearing away from friction against the pavement. The whine of the engine behind Michiru filled the air. Nearer and nearer to oncoming traffic edged the Altima.

Then the light turned green. Oncoming traffic stopped and Michiru saw her chance. Throwing off the parking brake, Michiru released the floor brake. Instantly the Altima was pushed partly into the intersection. Whipping the car in a hard right, Michiru pulled the car into the northbound lane. Sakiko's car slid off of her fender and plowed westbound into the middle of the intersection. She stopped and tried to turn, but there was too much traffic and she was too far out into the intersection. Michiru was already out of the car, standing by the driver's door. Unseen by anyone, her henshin stick was in her hand. The area filled with honking horns and shouting spectators and apparently it was all too much for Sakiko. She gunned the car forward and headed westbound at a fevered clip.

Michiru sighed and leaned against the side of her car. This couldn't be allowed to go on.

* * *

"I'm home," Daichi Aino wheezed, closing the door behind him and trudging into the hall as if it were his last action on Earth. He sat his briefcase down, put his umbrella on the coatrack and doffed his shoes. Emitting a sigh of infinite relief, Daichi slid into his slippers and turned for the living room where he could ooze into a chair and read the latest on the Giants.

To his surprise, his wife was waiting in the hall for him.

"Did you get it?" Kimiko asked.

"Yes, I'm happy to see you, too," Daichi exhaled.

"You know what I mean!" Kimiko replied in exasperation and for a moment Daichi recalled how alike Kimiko and Minako were when they were exasperated.

Surrendering, Daichi picked up his briefcase and followed his wife into the living room. Kimiko sat on the coffee table in front of Daichi's favorite chair, while Daichi deflated into his. She leaned in expectantly.

"Does this mean dinner will be late?" he asked.

"Dinner will hold," she assured him.

Daichi fished into his briefcase and brought out the printed copy of the memo he got concerning the Universe Phone. He handed it to his wife and she read it intently. As she studied it, Daichi studied her. She really was wasted as a housewife, he thought. She could have been so much more. It was exciting when she got to use her mind for something other than picking apart the flaws of others.

"From the tone of this, they seem to already know there's a problem with the phone," Kimiko surmised.

"Yes, but they're very careful not to specify what the problem is," Daichi added, "at least not to middle level workers like me. We're just supposed to maintain the corporate line that there's nothing wrong with the phone and there's no proof otherwise."

"Which there doesn't seem to be," Kimiko frowned.

"And any persistent questions are to be referred to media relations," Daichi added.

"The most you could garner from this memo is that the phone is potentially defective," Kimiko summarized. "It's just the urgency of the tone that suggests that it's bigger than just a defect. It's something that could be a great deal of trouble for the company."

"I'm sure it's more," her husband admitted. "A couple of the R and D guys were talking about all of the overtime they'd put in reprogramming the phone. This was after the initial release. Apparently they were getting a lot of pressure from above to get it done quickly so they could get the reprogrammed phone shipped out. We all thought it was because of the huge demand for them. Then we started hearing stories around the company that the phone was having a negative effect on people."

"Daichi, you've got to go to the police," Kimiko told him.

"With what? A bunch of rumors floating around the office? The last rumor had us being sold to a Chinese electronics firm. Before that, we were buying out AT & T. You can't prove anything by them. And you said so yourself that the memo is too vague to be conclusive that the phone is a threat to public safety." Daichi ran his hand through his hair. "All I'd be doing is sticking my neck out and asking management to chop my head off."

"Perhaps you could give them an anonymous tip?"

"If I give them a copy of the e-mail, the company would be able to trace it back to me," Daichi told her. "I'm sorry, Kim. I can't."

Just then the bell rang. Kimiko gestured for him to stay seated and went to get it. A moment later, she returned. Minako was with her.

"Minako? This is a pleasant surprise," Daichi smiled. "How's my favorite movie idol?"

"Dad," Minako said seriously, "I have to ask you something." She crossed over to the sofa and sat down, facing him. "Now please, give me a straight answer."

Her parents stared expectantly at her.

"What's going on with this Universe Phone?" Minako asked.

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. The Decision

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER

Chapter 8: "The Decision"

by Bill K.

In the office of Hoichi Otonashi, CEO of Takamoto Telecom, Otonashi sat at his desk speaking with his guest. Otonashi was fifty-four, slim, with slicked back black hair that he secretly dyed and modern fashion frame glasses rather than the black horn-rims that so many others in the business favored. He was wealthy, he was commanding and he knew business. But at the moment, there were cracks in his armor that he tried to disguise. A veteran could see them, though.

Shinjiro Hino was one such veteran. He sat across the desk from Otonashi, placid and conciliatory, his deference to one of the captains of Japanese industry in full view. But the eyes of a hawk hid behind the deferential politician. And he saw that Otonashi was nervous and that his visit was a ray of hope.

"Your visit was a welcome surprise, Hino-San," Otonashi said carefully. "Are you looking for more support for the next election? I happen to think Yotsuya is doing a fine job as Prime Minister, even if he is a Democrat."

"Any differences I have with Prime Minister Yotsuya and the Democrats are purely philosophical," Hino smiled. "Yotsuya's a good man. Misguided, perhaps." The two chuckled. "No, I was here in hopes that I could help someone whom I respect a great deal and on whom Japan greatly depends upon."

"Planning on cutting the corporate tax rate to zero?" Otonashi asked.

"I was thinking about something more realistic," Hino replied. "Word has gotten to me that Takamoto Telecom has - - a problem? And it's one that could potentially be very damaging to one of the leading employers in Japan? This wouldn't be welcome news at any time, but particularly in economic times such as these."

"And where did you hear this?" Otonashi questioned him. Hino saw he was trying to maintain control of the situation.

"Things get mentioned indiscreetly from time to time. Other ears hear them," Hino explained. "If there's anything I can help you with, please tell me. I understand you might prefer to deal with Nogura. His party is the party in power, after all. But a consensus can expedite matters, and that might come in handy if time is of the essence."

"Yes, it might," Otonashi said thoughtfully. "And what would you expect in return for this help?"

"Otonashi-San, we're grateful for the support you've given us in the past. I wouldn't expect anything beyond what you think serves your interests best. My primary concern is the welfare of Japan and its citizens. A healthy Takamoto Telecom is in their best interests."

Just then, Otonashi's phone sounded. Scowling, the businessman sighed and picked it up.

"I'm still in conference. What is it?" he demanded. His eyebrows went up. "Sailor Moon?" He listened briefly. "No, I can't see her. Tell her to talk to Nakahara in Public Relations." Shaken, Otonashi hung up the phone.

"Did I hear you say 'Sailor Moon'?" Hino asked.

Then the door opened. In swept Sailor Moon, her costume's wings making her look like the silhouette of a Christian angel. Behind her was another of the senshi. Otonashi saw she had a red skirt, but didn't keep track of the others so he didn't recognize her. Behind them both was Otonashi's personal assistant.

"I apologize, Otonashi-Sama!" the assistant offered up.

"Don't blame her, please," Sailor Moon told him. "I had to speak with you, Sir. It's very import . . ."

"What are YOU doing here?" Sailor Mars demanded the moment she saw Shinjiro Hino.

"Having a PRIVATE meeting," Hino replied with equal bitterness, his eyebrow arched. Mars glared daggers at him.

"Sailor Moon, would you and your friend please leave," Otonashi said. "I don't want to have to call security."

"Please, this is important!" Sailor Moon begged. "There may be something or someone in your company that's controlling people and making them do things they shouldn't do! Perfectly normal people are committing crimes or hurting themselves or others! If you'll help us, we can put a stop to it!"

"And what makes you think this rash of illegal activity has anything to do with Takamoto Telecom?" Otonashi requested.

"We have evidence," Sailor Moon said.

"What evidence?"

"Well," she began haltingly. "A lot of things point to it." Behind her, Mars rolled her eyes.

"Do you have anything conclusive?" Otonashi asked.

"I was kind of hoping you'd tell us that," Sailor Moon said.

"Takamoto Telecom is in no way connected with anything illegal," began Otonashi.

"Please! People are being hurt! Some of them are dying! And you can help them!"

"I don't see how," Otonashi said stone-faced.

Sailor Moon stared at him, hurt and betrayed. And, deep down, Otonashi suddenly felt like he'd betrayed not only her but the entire human race. For a moment he actually wanted to confess to her. But there was too much at stake.

"Come on, Sailor Moon," Mars gently urged her friend. "I guess we'll have to find our own answers."

The two men watched Mars guide Sailor Moon out the door. Mars gave Hino one last glare before shutting the door behind her. Otonashi sat back down behind his desk, smoothed his hair back, and returned his gaze to Dietman Hino.

"Frankly I don't know what she's babbling about," Otonashi said.

"Perhaps she has ears for indiscretions as well," Hino commented. "You know how some people like to talk. Or perhaps she's just guessing or jumping to conclusions from misinformation. But you know that the spread of misinformation can be as damaging as a concealed truth. And if she's heard about it, who knows how long it will be before it's all over Japan."

Otonashi suddenly felt his throat tighten.

"What you were saying earlier, about consensus," Otonashi spoke up. "Perhaps there's something to that."

"THAT was your plan?" Mars demanded as the two senshi rode down the elevator to the lobby of Takamoto Telecom.

"Well," Sailor Moon grimaced. "I thought he might not be aware of what was happening. And if he found out, he'd be willing to help us. I had to give him the chance, Mars. If he has the chance to do right and doesn't take it, that's one thing. But not getting the chance to make things right would be a crime against him."

Mars sighed. "If only you weren't so noble sometimes."

"What do you suppose your dad was doing there?"

"I think he's trying to find out what's going on, too," Mars replied. It was evident that what she read in her father wasn't what she'd expected. "I could see he doesn't know what's going on, but he knows something is going on."

"That's not surprising, being in the government," Sailor Moon observed. "Did you read anything from the man who runs Takamoto Telecom?"

"No," Mars replied, turning her head away sheepishly. "I was - - too preoccupied with my dad."

"That's all right, Mars," smiled Sailor Moon.

"No, it isn't! I should have kept my mind on my work!"

"Mars, it's OK."

"No it's not!"

"It is!"

"No, it's not, Bubble-head!" snapped Mars.

"You are just SO argumentative sometimes!" Sailor Moon fumed and crossed her arms over her chest.

Unseen, a small smile bloomed on Sailor Mars' mouth.

* * *

Noboru Kawakami walked into the lobby of Takamoto Telecom, passing two young women heading from the elevators. He only noticed them in passing, and only because one had the oddest hairstyle and the other was in full priest robes. His attention was concentrating on the phone conversation he was having.

"No, Owimuri-San," he said, entering the elevator and pushing the ninth floor. "Those shipments were tracked from Taipei to our plant in Osaka. They arrived on-time."

Kawakami was thirty-one and a manager in parts distribution for the conglomerate. He was thin and frail-looking, with sunken eyes and a sunken face. But he was very efficient and had boundless energy for the tasks assigned to him. He was in his eighth year with Takamoto and, though his fast track through the company wasn't going as fast as he'd hoped, he was still optimistic.

"Have they thoroughly checked their warehouse?" Kawakami asked his caller. He was wearing one of the company's new Universe Phones, which had been the cause of a lot of overtime when a sudden jump in production meant scrambling for parts. "Sir, DHL says they were delivered and I can only go by what they tell me."

The response was not what Kawakami wanted to hear.

"Yes, sir, I'll get another shipment going from Taipei. And I'll get a delivery confirmation from DHL. But Osaka needs to look in their warehouse again. I'm willing to wager that it's there and they just can't find it."

Entering his tiny cubicle, Kawakami sat at his desk and emitted a tired sigh. His hands sat on the keyboard of his computer, but he couldn't find the energy to type. This sort of thing happened more often than he liked, and nine times out of ten the shipment arrived where it was supposed to go and the receiver just misplaced it. But they never admitted it. It was always his fault - - always.

"You want to do it."

He hadn't heard it. He was alone in his cubicle. The thought was just suddenly in his head. But it made sense. He did want to do it. Suddenly he wanted to do it more than anything else. But could he? It had always been an interest for him, but when it came down to actually buying one, he didn't know how it could be done.

"Unless," he mused softly, lost completely in the problem, "Hashimoto always talked about knowing a Boryokudan."

Galvanized by the idea, Kawakami burst out of his cubicle and headed for the elevator. It didn't matter that he was in the middle of his shift and that he didn't have permission to leave from his supervisor. The only thing that mattered was that he wanted to do it.

* * *

Daichi Aino suddenly wished he was in another line of work. It was bad enough his wife was disappointed in him for the decisions he'd made. Now he risked his lovely daughter's view of him. No man wanted to be looked down on by his family.

How he wished he'd never heard of the Universe Phone.

"What do you know about the Universe Phone?" Minako's mother asked, surprised by both her daughter's information and her grave attitude.

"I know a lot of people are doing a lot of wild things that they normally wouldn't do all of a sudden," Minako blurted out, because she always tended to act before she thought. "And the, um, senshi suspect it has something to do with Takamoto Telecom's Universe Phone."

"How would you know that?"

"Police Superintendent Sakurada," Minako shrugged, as if it weren't an unusual fact. "She's a big fan - - a BIG fan." She turned back to her father. "OK, Dad, what's up? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

Daichi exhaled. He didn't want to say anything. He really didn't. Not if it would involve his daughter.

"Come on, Dad! I know you're involved! When I showed you my new Universe Phone last time, you acted like it was radioactive!"

"Minako," her mother began.

"There," he said, drawing the words out like they were chained to concrete blocks, "may be some sort of safety issue with the phones."

"What kind of 'safety issue'?" Minako asked.

"I don't know. They're not going to tell me. I'm not high enough up. Probably the only ones who do know are the guys in R & D who developed it and probably the board. We were just told to stonewall any questions that might come up and tell the public that everything was fine."

"Even though there were 'safety issues'?" Minako punctuated his statement with her own. She was unable to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"You could be a little less judgmental," Kim said.

"That's a laugh coming from you, Mom," Minako muttered. She wouldn't take her intense gaze off of her father.

"I'm sorry, Minako," Daichi sighed. "I had to keep quiet to keep my job."

"Dad, why didn't you come to me?" Minako asked. "I'm the hottest idol in Japan - - well, one of them, anyway. Don't you think I have room on my payroll for a smart, experienced business manager who probably understands me better than anyone else in the world?"

He looked up at her and noted the liquid welling ever so slightly at the rims of her eyelids. His shame softened and Daichi reached a tired hand over and caught his daughter's hand in it.

"I must not be that smart if a solution like that never occurred to me," he smiled sadly. "I guess I figured I'd just be imposing."

"Bite your tongue, Dad!" Minako sniffed. "You're one of the reasons I'm where I am today." She grinned. "Of course, looks and talent probably helped a lot, too. But seeing you slog to work day after day when I knew you'd rather just sit in your easy chair, all for Mom and me - - that's what made me keep trying during the rough years. I knew if you could do it, I could."

Kim was beaming behind him. Daichi reached over with his other hand and rubbed the back of Minako's.

"Call this fan of yours, this Superintendent," he said. "I'll tell them everything I know - - show them all the paper evidence I have. It's not much."

"Every little bit helps, if it gets these things off the street," Minako told him.

"Well, if it's any consolation," Daichi offered, "the defective models are already out of the stores. The ones that are selling now are supposed to be safe. It was just the initial batch that caused all the problems."

"Initial batch?" Minako whispered introspectively. "No wonder she didn't find anything. She got one of the replacement models!"

Springing up, Minako raced for the door.

"Minako?" her mother gasped. "What is it? Where are you going?"

"Got to dash! I got to see a cat about a phone!" Minako exclaimed, the door slamming behind her.

"I wish she wouldn't use slang like that," Kim scowled.

* * *

"I've been over the plans until my eyes hurt," Artemis told Luna over the senshi communications channel. "There's nothing here. It's just a normal phone."

"Well nothing else seems to fit, Artemis," Luna replied. "The Universe Phone is the most likely culprit. Is it possible that some sort of short wave command is being transmitted to the phone from a remote location?"

"I checked that," the white cat replied. "I can't find any evidence of any unauthorized transmissions, and I went back four months. I've checked the construction, I've checked the storage, I've checked the shipping. Unless it's something to do with Tokyo itself, I don't know what else to think." Artemis frowned. "Wait a minute."

"You've found something?"

"Luna, the entire country has been screaming for these Universe Phones. Takamoto began shipping out a new batch a few weeks ago. But they only shipped to Tokyo. Wouldn't you want to parcel it out everywhere? Yokohama money spends just as well as Tokyo money does, you'd think."

"It does seem odd," Luna commented. "As if there was a defect in the first shipment to Tokyo?"

"Yeah," Artemis nodded. "Maybe that defect is what's causing these behavior problems in people."

Just then Minako burst into the apartment.

"ARTEMIS!" she yelled. "It's the first shipment of phones! They're the ones causing all the trouble!"

"Now she tells me," Artemis scowled.

"It was a brilliant deduction just the same," Luna smiled.

"Dad confirmed it's the phones," Minako continued, entering the kitchen where Artemis was. "He doesn't know what they do, though. But it's the first shipment that's causing all the problems. Can you pull up the plans for the first batch?"

"The plans haven't changed," Artemis told her. "It's got to be the programming."

"So what do we do?" Minako asked.

"We've got to get one of those phones," Artemis replied. But he really didn't know how.

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. The Hostage

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER

Chapter 9: "The Hostage"

by Bill K.

Returning from her day at the general practice office she shared with Mamoru, Ami placed her purse on the kitchen counter. Loosening the cuffs on her blouse, she strolled over to the phone to check her voice mail. There was one message. Entering the code, she played the message.

"This is your mother," came the voice mail. Ami could tell by the stiff, arch tone of her mother's voice that there was still ill-will between them. "I have a line on a position with a hospital over on the west side of the city. It's a very good situation and shows promising growth potential."

Ami sighed. Her mother wasn't one to give up when she'd decided on a course of action.

"Call me and I'll give you the information," Kanami Mizuno continued, "unless, of course, you're still determined to waste all of your talent and potential as a general practitioner."

Scowling, Ami deleted the rest of the message. Too many times she'd allowed her mother to browbeat her into going along with what Kanami wanted, rightly or wrongly. Not this time.

"I'm twenty-eight years old," Ami mumbled to herself, undoing the buttons on her blouse. "It's about time I developed the courage to stick to my decisions."

Just then her senshi communicator signaled. Expelling a sigh at yet another infringement upon her time, Ami engaged the device. Artemis was on the other end, with Minako peering over his shoulder.

"Has there been a development?" Ami asked.

"Yes, we . . ." Artemis began.

"There's two batches of phones!" Minako yelled from the background. "Takamoto pulled the first shipment without telling anybody and shipped out a new batch!"

"Then the one I analyzed . . .?" Ami began.

"Yeah, it's . . ." Artemis started.

"Gotta be the second batch! How much you want to bet the first batch is the culprit!" Minako interrupted. Artemis ground his teeth.

"That could change the entire hypothesis," Ami frowned.

"That's what I . . ." Artemis began to say.

"What do you think we . . . OW!" Minako started to say, then flinched back as Artemis swatted her hand with his claws.

"We need to get one of those first generation phones to analyze," Ami concluded.

"But how?" Artemis asked.

"HEY, FUZZBALL, I'M FILMING! I CAN'T AFFORD TO HAVE SCARS!" roared Minako.

"Very simply," Ami replied. "We contact Superintendent Sakurada and ask to see the personal effects of one of the people suspected of an induced crime - - that man who attacked Rei, for example."

"Yeah," smiled Minako. "I'll call her right now. Good thing I've got her private number." Out came Minako's cell phone.

"What do you think you'll find?" Artemis asked as Minako talked.

"I try not to enter an investigation with preconceptions," Ami told him. "It's too easy to start editing the evidence to fit the theory."

"She said 'great'," Minako reported. "She'll meet us at her office."

"I'm on my way," Ami said. "You and Artemis should be there, too."

Pulling out her shoulder bag, Minako opened it. Artemis hopped in, and Minako hoisted it onto her shoulder. She headed for the door, but it opened before she got there. Toshihiro was just getting home from the studio.

"H-Hi, Mina," Toshihiro said contritely. "Listen, about the last few days . . ."

"Sorry, Toshi," Minako answered, quickly kissing him on the cheek, "but I can't stay. Senshi stuff, you know?" And she was out the door.

Toshihiro sighed. "I guess it's no more than I deserve."

* * *

Michiru Kaioh sat on the sofa in the small one bedroom home owned a little more each month by her friend and fellow senshi Setsuna Meioh. The artist wore blue slacks and a casual white blouse and seemed grateful for the chance to relax. Within moments, Setsuna came in with a tray holding two cups of tea, a pot and a dish of cakes. She put the tray on the table before them and sat down opposite her friend. Setsuna had on a green blouse with a violet skirt and Michiru told herself once again not to mention how badly they clashed.

"It still amazes me how you afford this home on a university teaching assistant salary," Michiru remarked, taking the cup of tea gratefully.

"I am quite frugal," Setsuna replied.

"Yes," Michiru smiled, eying the sparsely furnished room, "that's always been evident."

"How easily you poke fun at someone who has generously provided you with shelter," Setsuna shot back playfully. Then she grew serious. "I noticed the damage to the back of your car. How serious is this threat?"

"She's made two attempts on my life already," Michiru explained. "I don't know if she's had a mental collapse or if she's being controlled by something, but she seems to be convinced that her way to being Haruka's new lover is my elimination."

"Do you have evidence of her being controlled?"

"Only circumstantial," Michiru reply. "Her family claims she's a model citizen, although her behavior had begun to deteriorate recently. That says to me either outside control or mental collapse."

"Indeed," Setsuna nodded. "And you have no way of tracking her?"

"None. Tokyo is a big city and someone can get lost in it very easily. I may have to bring the police into it. I don't want to, especially if she's being controlled, but the longer she remains free in this state, the longer she's a threat to me and to anyone around me." Michiru took a long draw on the tea. "But that's a decision for tomorrow. Right now I have to get some rest. I haven't had any in a while."

"You are welcome to my bed, of course," Setsuna offered.

"Why Setsuna, are you propositioning me?" Michiru smirked. "What would Haruka say?"

"Haruka would probably join in," Setsuna replied, unfazed. "However, you have intentionally misinterpreted my statement. I can sleep on the floor."

"I won't hear of it," Michiru told her. "The way I feel, all I need is a soft mat."

"Have you informed Haruka of what has happened?

"Two days before she's due to race?" Michiru queried. "The last think she needs to be doing at THOSE speeds is worrying about me. It can wait until Sunday night. Hopefully that girl will have been caught by then." Michiru smiled dreamily. "She'll be back in Tokyo by Tuesday at the latest and, with the off week and then the Fuji Grand Prix here the week after, we'll have two weeks together. And she can dote on me and soothe my 'jangled nerves' and her guilty feelings. And if the girl is still loose, the three of us can hunt her down together."

"Just so," nodded Setsuna. She noticed Michiru's expression. "Do not feel you have to stay up just to be polite to me. If you feel done in, please go to bed. I have work I can occupy myself with."

"All right," sighed Michiru. She grabbed another cake. "These are very good."

"I will pass it along to the bakery I purchased them from," Setsuna smiled.

* * *

The lights were on in Superintendent Sakurada's office, indicating to the rest of the shift that the dedicated police official was investing in another late night. There was still a mild buzz going through the offices at the sight of Sailor Venus entering the office. More than one conversation wondered out loud as to what sensational crime Sakurada had called the senshi in to consult on. It's doubtful any of them would conceive of what was actually going on inside.

"Are there any romantic scenes in your new film?" Sakurada asked, doing a good impression of a starry-eyed teenager.

"There's a few," Venus replied, smiling a cheshire grin. She set her shoulder bag down on the desk.

"With Hitaro Tsuko?"

"Yeah," Venus smirked.

"WHAT'S IT LIKE KISSING HITARO TSUKO?" Sakurada gasped.

"Well, it's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it," Venus joked. Sakurada laughed. The laughter ceased, though, when Artemis popped out of the shoulder bag.

"Venus-Chan, you brought your cat?" Sakurada asked.

"Yeah," Venus shrugged. "Artemis is sort of the brains of the outfit." The cat winked. Just then, Sailor Mercury was ushered inside by one of the duty officers.

"I apologize for being late," Mercury offered.

"At least you're here," Artemis said.

That's when everybody saw the look of shock on the police superintendent's face.

"Venus-Chan," Sakurada whispered. "Your cat talked."

"You didn't know about Artemis?" Venus asked. "Wow, that must be the only thing about my life that you DON'T know!"

"Artemis is," Mercury started to explain, "a 'special' sort of cat."

"It's a robot!" Sakurada gasped.

"Excuse me?" Artemis scowled.

"Um, we really should get to the matter at hand," Mercury interjected.

Shoving her wonderment aside, Sakurada went over to her desk and picked up a manila envelope. Mercury produced her computer. Opening the envelope, Sakurada spilled the contents of the envelope onto her desk. Inside were a wallet, a watch, some coins, a pen, a PDA, and a miniature headset cell phone.

"BINGO!" Venus exclaimed, pouncing on the phone. "Surprise, surprise - - a Universe Phone."

"Is that what's causing all of this?" Sakurada inquired.

"We'll know soon enough," Mercury said.

She took the phone from Venus and set it on the edge of the desk. Pecking on the keyboard of her computer, Mercury engaged the sophisticated scans of the computer. Instantly data began to pop up on the screen. Artemis leaped over to the chair next to Mercury and peered over her arm at the display.

"The construction and circuitry of this model is identical to the one I previously scanned," Mercury reported.

"Then what is it?" gasped Venus, her hopes dimming.

"She's not done yet, Venus," Artemis assured her.

"Scanning the operating programs now," Mercury said. "There it is."

"Look at that," marveled Artemis.

"What?" Venus demanded impatiently.

"In the programming is a file that activates when the phone is used," Mercury explained. "It begins feeding impulses to the brain through the auditory canal at a frequency that wouldn't register in the normal hearing range. The impulses act like a subliminal message to the brain and begin to influence the thinking of those susceptible to this type of subliminal masking."

"What's the message?" Sakurada asked.

"'You want to do it'," Mercury reported. "The question now becomes what behavior was the message trying to induce? I hardly think a large corporation such as Takamoto Telecom would intentionally incite random chaotic anti-social behavior."

"Assuming the message was the work of Takamoto and not a prank or sabotage from a vengeful employee - - maybe even industrial sabotage," suggested Sakurada. Mercury nodded.

"Well I don't know if it was their idea to plant that bug in people's ears," Venus proclaimed, "but they knew enough about it to secretly recall all of the unsold models. Which means they intentionally let all the people who had already bought one of these things stick a loaded gun in their ears and play Russian Roulette. I would think that's against the law."

"I think I could make something stick," Sakurada replied. "Would you two like to accompany me to Takamoto Telecom's offices? Oh, but we'll have to stop by a judge first. I think I'm going to need some search warrants."

* * *

Ai Norito glanced at the clock. It was after eight. She wanted to get home. Her husband would be home from his job and her children would be home from school. She wanted to go home so she could be their mother. But Otonashi-Sama's meeting with Dietman Hino was running later than expected and it was her job to stay until he let her go home. Being an executive assistant was very lucrative for Ai, but the trade-off was often late nights like this. She'd much rather be home listening to tales of school her children would tell, but she had to be here.

The elevator opened and a man walked out. He was thirty-one, almost skeletal, one of the young middle managers on the upward climb in the corporation. Though she didn't recognize him exactly, she recognized the type. Then she noticed his employee ID dangling from his coat. He was headed for her desk, though she didn't know why. Otonashi-Sama hadn't sent for anyone and he didn't seem to have any business on the executive level.

"May I help you?" she asked as the man approached closer.

"Want to see the boss," he smirked and kept coming.

"Otonashi-Sama is in conference and can't be disturbed," she informed him. "If you'll take your concern up with your immediate supervisor . . ." Noboru Kawakami swept right past her desk and toward the office door. "Wait! You can't go in there!"

Ai moved to intercept him. If he got past her so soon after Sailor Moon had just swept into the office, it wouldn't look good for her. Her hand closed on his arm. Then Kawakami swung around and jammed something big and black into her face. Ai froze. It was an automatic pistol. Seeing someone in possession of a gun was almost unheard of in Japan. But there it was, close enough so that Ai could smell the powder emanating from the barrel. She let go of the man's coat sleeve.

"Then why don't you introduce me?" Kawakami smiled. It was a slightly mad, totally unconcerned expression.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to confide in me," Dietman Hino told Otonashi inside the office. "This is a very serious matter, with a great many potentially dangerous pitfalls. Give me a little time to confer with some people and I'll see what I can come up with."

"You think we can get out of this unscathed?" Otonashi asked hopefully.

"No, you're going to take a hit on this. I'll be honest. There's no way around that," Hino advised him. "But it doesn't have to be a fatal hit. With some - - creativity - - I think I can minimize . . ."

Just then the door to the outer office swung open. Noboru Kawakami walked in with one arm across Ai Norito's throat and the other brandishing an automatic pistol. He forced Ai into the room, then kicked the door closed with his foot. Otonashi and Hino both stared in shock and amazement at both Kawakami's brazenness and his possession of a firearm.

"EXCUSE ME," Kawakami said with mocking politeness, "Otonashi-Sama - - but I have a complaint!"

* * *

Michiru stirred long enough to glance at the other room. The light was out. Setsuna had finally stopped working and gone to bed. She lay back.

"I wonder if she always goes to bed so early," Michiru mumbled to herself sleepily. "I'd hate to think I was being a bad influence on her." Her face took on a dreamy smile as her eyes closed. "Then again, what reason would she have to stay up late? It is Setsuna you're talking about."

Snuggling on the mat, Michiru began thinking of her impending reunion with Haruka. And just like that she began to fantasize. In her fantasy, Haruka drove up into the garage at their home, not in the custom Fiat but in her Formula-1 car, making the turn at an impossibly high rate of speed. Michiru was in the garage, and the nose of the car stopped just a foot from her. Haruka doffed her helmet, allowing that boyish mane of sandy hair to fly out. Michiru chastised her about the unnecessary risks the woman took, even though secretly she thrilled vicariously to them. Haruka climbed out of the cockpit of the race car and give her that naughty boy smirk. And Michiru felt her insides tighten.

That was the effect Haruka always had on her. Haruka was always so spontaneous, so daring - - everything the cool, calculating, controlled artist wasn't. Haruka was her bad boy, her outlaw with the heart of gold inside, the outlaw so many girls dreamed of. She was excitement, the excitement of random emotion that Michiru had mostly strangled out of her own life. Even now, after all the years they had been together, just thinking about that cocky smirk and those twinkling blue eyes got Michiru's pulse racing.

As Michiru drifted off, her head cradled in the imaginary lap of the person who meant everything to her, bare feet softly scuffed across the floor of the room. Quietly a shadowy figure stole to within six feet of Michiru. The figure waited to see if Michiru stirred. Then the figure risked another step. Closer, the figure waited again. When Michiru gave no evidence of hearing the intrusion, the figure raised its hand.

Caught momentarily in the faint light of evening, a knife blade was silhouetted against the dark figure.

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. The Intervention

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER

Chapter 10: "The Intervention"

by Bill K.

The evening in the Tokyo business district was usually a placid time. Most business was conducted between eight a.m. and five p.m. Though it wasn't unusual to see a light on in more than one office in more than one building, those offices populated with managers and executives putting in overtime, the district usually calmed after five. The sight of five police cars and a police wagon, all led by an unmarked Toyota mid-size, was something unusual for anyone who happened to frequent the business district after hours.

"This is the best car they could give you?" Sailor Venus asked. She was in the front seat with Superintendent Natsuda Sakurada, Artemis riding in her shoulder bag. Sailor Mercury was in back, fiddling with her senshi computer.

"Were you expecting a limousine, Venus-Chan?" Sakurada smiled at the irony. "I'm sure a star of your magnitude is used to riding in limousines. . ." The statement was interrupted by a snicker from the shoulder bag.

"It's a very good car and adequate for its uses," Mercury commented, multi-tasking with her computer. "Besides, a police vehicle should be nondescript so as not to call attention to itself."

"But the cars on those TV shows . . ." Venus began.

"They use flashy cars on TV to get attention and build ratings," Mercury said.

"Well that's a rip," scowled Venus. "So what are you doing back there?"

"Analyzing the subliminal signal from the Universe Phone," Mercury answered. "This is as sophisticated a subliminal program as I've ever seen. It's a definitive breakthrough in the science."

"So one little message can turn you into a zombie?" Venus asked.

"You're over-simplifying," Mercury shook her head. "Subliminal messaging is sending a message that runs below conscious perception, but which registers in the subconscious. It isn't mind control. It's more like a suggestion that stimulates latent desires within the subject."

"Simply put, if I show you a second of film, that's twenty-four frames," Artemis explained, popping his head out of the shoulder bag. "And I substitute a picture of a steaming bowl of rice for one of the frames of the film, you won't consciously notice the single frame of the bowl of rice, but your subconscious will - - and you may find yourself suddenly hungry for a bowl of rice and you don't know why."

"Ohhhh," Venus nodded.

"You see, you have to know how far you have to dumb it down," Artemis remarked to Mercury.

"I'll dumb you down, Furball!" Venus growled and ground her knuckles into the top of the white cat's head.

"Still, this program creates an incredibly powerful suggestion," Mercury noted. "The exact area of the brain the program stimulates seems to be the key. Something like this needs further study. The possibilities . . ."

A call came over the police radio in the car. Sakurada reached for it as she drove.

"Sakurada here," she said.

"Superintendent, we've had a call from the Takamoto Telecom building claiming there was a hostage situation. Operators report a cell phone call transmitting raised voices and words indicating the threat. An Otonashi-San was named in one of the exchanges."

"That's the CEO of Takamoto!" Venus exclaimed.

"Has the Hostage Unit been mobilized?" Sakurada asked.

"Yes, Ma'am," came the reply. "They are currently en route."

"Get radio patrols to block off the area around the building," Sakurada ordered. "Get the area clear of traffic - - and I want the press kept out! Our ETA is about a minute. I'll advise from there." She was about to end the call, but thought better of it. "Is there any idea who put through the call?"

"We've traced the call to a cell phone licensed to Dietman Shinjiro Hino."

Venus and Mercury exchanged worried looks.

"Venus-Chan," Sakurada said. "Could you please call your team in on this? We may need them to bring this to as quick an end as possible."

* * *

Michiru was suddenly dimly aware of movement around her. She roused from her sleep and was certain she wasn't alone in the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the blade of a knife poised to plunge into her from above. Her first instinct was to move out of the path of the blade, but she wasn't sure if she could do it fast enough.

The blade came down. And then it was intercepted by a long silver gray staff. A garnet orb was fixed on one end of the staff. The staff caught the hand wielding the blade across the fleshy heel of the hand and held the blade's descent in place. For a moment there was stalemate. Then the staff swept upward with ease. The motion swept the blade from the hand's grip and sent it flying. The knife embedded itself in the far wall of the room, the handle vibrating from halted momentum.

As Michiru gathered her wits, she could see a figure fleeing for the door. She sprang to her feet, but Sailor Pluto was faster. Pluto cut off the figure's path for the door.

"No, you will not be allowed to flee," Pluto said with quiet certainty. The dark figure made an aggressive move for her and Pluto brought her staff up, ready to fire. "Make no attempt to escape. This ends here and now."

Hoping to capture her, Michiru came up from behind and seized the assailant, hoping to pin her arms to her torso. But the girl twisted around out of the artist's grip and lunged, her hands wildly gouging at Michiru's face. Michiru grabbed the young teen's arms by the wrists and held her at bay. She struggled wildly, like an animal in a snare. Though Michiru was several inches taller and several pounds heavier than she was, it was all the woman could do to contain her.

"Stop struggling!" ordered Michiru. "It's over!"

"No!" shrieked Sakiko Yakino, black hair strewn in her face and her eyes desperate and afraid. "I have to kill you! I have to! It's the only way Haruka will love me! It's the only way!"

Pluto came over and together the two women kept Sakiko under control until the teen finally collapsed from exhaustion. Pluto left and returned with some cord, then bound the teen's wrists and ankles. When that was finished, she rose to her feet and looked to Michiru.

"What will you do now?" she asked.

"I guess we don't have a choice," Michiru sighed. "We'll have to call the police. I'll try to make them understand that she needs to be hospitalized. She's let her obsession take control of her."

Spotting something on the floor near the panting, sobbing teen, Michiru stooped and picked it up. Pluto gave her a curious look.

"It's one of those Universe Phones everyone is talking about," Michiru reported. "She must have been wearing it when she attacked me." She looked at Pluto. "Why would she have this? What was she going to do, brag to all of her friends after she stabbed me to death?"

"I, too, am at a loss," Pluto replied. "Perhaps it is a coincidence. Or perhaps she can one day explain her reasoning, if there even was reasoning, after a doctor has reconstructed her shattered psyche."

And Sakiko continued to sob.

* * *

Waiting by the curb, Rei Hino looked expectantly down the street. She glanced at her watch again, then returned her gaze to the street. Cars would pass. People would pass her on the street. If they spoke to her, she would be polite. If they passed on by, she would ignore them. Rei had received the call from Ami. The call had been brief, outlining the situation at Takamoto Telecom. Usagi had said she and Mamoru would pick her up. That was ten minutes ago. She'd been waiting on the curb for eight. And though she kept telling herself that it took a little time to get from Usagi's place to Makoto's and then to hers, that thought didn't seem to ease the tension of the situation.

Finally the sight of Mamoru's new Honda mid-size pulled into view. Rei allowed herself to breathe again. Usagi was in the front seat with Mamoru. Makoto was in the back. The car pulled up and Rei climbed inside next to Makoto.

"Sorry we're late," Usagi offered.

"It's OK," Rei replied curtly. "Let's just get there."

As the car drove, Rei noticed Makoto looking at her. She glanced over at her friend inquiringly.

"I know you're probably worried about him," Makoto began.

"Actually, I'm not," Rei cut her off. "He was probably caught in one of his own schemes. And anyway, my sympathy for him was used up a long time ago."

"Rei, he's your father," Makoto maintained.

"That's just an accident of birth," the priest scowled.

"Then what's wrong, Rei?" Usagi asked, turning from the front seat. "You don't seem like yourself?"

"I'll be all right," Rei asserted.

"Are you still thinking about what happened at the shrine?"

Rei locked eyes with Usagi and suddenly understood what other people probably felt when she would read something in them that they didn't want known. As usual, though, there was no judgment in Usagi's eyes. Reluctantly, Rei let her guard down.

"It's kind of hard not to, I guess," Rei admitted. "That sort of took me by surprise. You get this - - notion of security in your head. I'm a priest, I'm a senshi - - it can't happen to me. And when it does happen, you're kind of left groping for answers. And you stopped him before he could do anything. Imagine how I'd feel if . . . he . . ."

"If you want," Makoto offered, "I could give you a few self-defense tips. I mean, I kind of know what you're talking about. Ever since Akiko got snatched last year, I've been super paranoid every time we go out. It took me six months not to have kittens every time she went to school." She could see Rei was reluctant. "Maybe it'll help. Even if it just gives you a sense that you're in control of your life again."

Her eyes went from Makoto's, earnest and above board, to Usagi's, which were bursting with love, sympathy and support. And Rei felt embarrassed by her problem.

"Sure," Rei shrugged. "If you don't have anything else to do, I mean. I don't want to put you out."

"No trouble," Makoto smiled. "It'll get me out of the apartment. And Ichiro can watch his mommy do something besides vacuum rugs and do laundry."

"Did you have much trouble with them after you got the call tonight?" Mamoru asked.

"Ichiro was asleep, thank goodness," Makoto reported. "He still gets a little nervous when I have to go be Sailor Jupiter. But he tries."

"And Akiko?" Usagi asked.

"Her? She just smiles and says 'go kick their butt, Mommy'," Makoto smirked. The others chuckled. "Beats me where she learns that stuff."

"Minako, of course," Rei replied.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Honestly, I think she likes me more as Sailor Jupiter than as her mom."

"Well of course," Usagi replied. "Sailor Jupiter doesn't tell her 'no'."

Again the car filled with laughter. However it died away when Mamoru turned a corner and they saw the police cordons down the block.

Outside the unmarked car she drove up in, Superintendent Sakurada was directing the response team as they cordoned off the Takamoto building. The hostage team was trying to set up a phone link to the office of CEO Otonashi while an assault team studied plans of the building and tossed around various avenues to the office.

Inside the car, Sailor Mercury and Artemis studied the schematics for the building and Mercury's sophisticated sensor scans. Her scans had a diagram of the room, complete with furniture placement and the heat signatures of four people. Venus stood outside the door, ready to relay information between them and the police, or act if necessary.

"This is the perpetrator here," Mercury said. "I'm scanning an automatic weapon in his hand. Additionally, he would logically be the only one standing."

"Fine, I'll buy it," Venus told her. "Any way we can get at him?"

"There's a picture window, but he's far enough away from it to avoid being hit, either by gunfire or by your Love Me Chain attack. And he's hovering near one of the others, so he could use the man as a shield against a frontal assault."

"And you said he's armed, right?"

"Yes, an automatic pistol. He has a ten round clip in the pistol and two more in his pants pockets."

"Wow," Venus scowled. "Any ideas?"

"If there were a way to introduce an anesthetic gas into the room," Mercury began, then stopped. "No, that's unworkable. Anesthetic gas would take too long to work."

"How about you, Buddy?" Venus asked Artemis.

"Hmm? I'm sorry, Venus. I was talking to Luna on the remote link," Artemis replied.

"Talk to your girlfriend later," Venus growled.

"It's about the case," Artemis retorted. "Luna has been doing some back-checking on the personnel of Takamoto. There's a technology patent application that lists a Goro Awanishi as the principle inventor and co-patent applicant for the proprietary elements of the Universe Phone."

"I believe I've read up on some of his work," Mercury chimed in. "Dr. Awanishi has a doctorate in physics, and he specializes in sound and sonographic neurology."

"Can you do that without getting arrested?" Venus asked.

"If he's made a breakthrough in neurological audio-autosuggestion . . ." Mercury began to ponder.

"OK, we can get into that later," Venus cautioned her. "What do we do about this hostage situation?"

"But that could be a possible answer," Artemis interjected. "We all agree it's the phone that's making them do this. You said yourself that the guy with the gun has a Universe Phone in his ear, right?" Mercury nodded. "How about we hack into the phone, disable the program and let him revert to his old, law-abiding self again?"

"I'm not certain about the viability of that," Mercury shook her head. "We'd have to be able to establish contact with the phone itself . . ."

"Piece of cake," Artemis proclaimed.

"Then get into the programming and cut off the specific sub-routine . . ."

"Just crash the whole thing," Venus said.

"And all of this is predicated upon the assumption that the subject will immediately revert to a pre-suggestion state," Mercury warned. "There is no assurance of that. We have no way of knowing how much of a push the phone gave him. This may have been bubbling just beneath the surface in his psyche and removal of the initial stimulus to act out may not terminate the desire itself."

Just then the other three senshi joined them. Venus took a few moments to brief them on the situation and on the plans they were working on.

"Well why don't I just go up there," Sailor Moon began.

"No," Mars stated emphatically.

"I'll talk to him and get him to see how wrong this is," Sailor Moon continued.

"No!" Mars repeated.

"I can use my Moon Tier attack on him if I have to," Sailor Moon argued.

"Hon', you just can't march in there and expect him to listen to you," Jupiter said. "You heard Venus, he's got a gun!"

"But the longer we wait, the more chance there is that somebody will get hurt!" Sailor Moon pleaded. "Haven't enough people been hurt by this?"

"We just don't want you to be the next victim," Mars countered.

"Superintendent!" an officer from the hostage unit called over. "We've got him on the line!"

Sakurada walked over to where one officer was on the phone, with three others crowded around him. Sailor Moon, Venus and Mars walked over with her.

"Hi," the officer on the phone said, trying to be cordial and sympathetic. "Hell of a night to be stuck inside. Are you all right?"

"Has anybody found out what he wants yet?" Sakurada asked. The other officers shook their heads.

"That's good," the phone officer said. "How about the others? Are they all right?"

"Does your team have anything, Venus-Chan?" Sakurada asked Venus.

"Well, this guy is being egged on by one of those Universe Phones," Venus told her. "We thought about trying to crash the phone's program remotely, but we can't guarantee that'll get him to lay down his pistol and give up."

"That's great news," the phone officer exclaimed. "So, what can we do to keep everyone all right?"

"Do it anyway," Sakurada requested. "If he's not being pushed to continue, maybe we can wear him down - - get him to give up."

Mars noticed the phone officer's reaction. She nodded toward him and everyone else looked.

"What is it, Unohara?" Sakurada demanded.

"He wants to be named President of the company," the phone officer reported. "And if Otonashi-San doesn't comply, he'll execute everyone."

Continued in Chapter 11


	11. The Plan

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER  
Chapter 11: "The Plan"  
by Bill K.

Back and forth he paced, three sets of eyes in the room watching his every move. Noboru Kawakami ignored them and continued to pace back and forth, his right hand on the trigger of the automatic pistol. It was as if he were listening to something that only he heard. Everyone was tense, waiting for his next move.

He had loudly proclaimed over the telephone on the desk that he wanted to be declared president of Takamoto Telecom, that it was his due for his hard, diligent work for the company as well as for his natural charm and intelligence. Then he'd hung up the phone, giggled to himself, and began pacing.

"Look," Hoichi Otonashi, the current CEO of the company, began haltingly, "Kawakami, is it?"

"Don't you know?" he barked at the older, more important man. "I've worked for this company for eight years!"

"I . . ."

"Eight years I've done everything I was told to do! Eight years I've been a good soldier, supporting management and working for the company's benefit! And what has it gotten me? I'm STILL IN SHIPPING!" He paced angrily back and forth, the gun always visible. "Meanwhile, guys like you run this company into the ground!"

"We're on the road to a comeback . . ." Otonashi countered.

"I read the NSE quotes," Kawakami cut him off. "This company was teetering on a cliff! And suppose your inept management pushed it over? Where was that going to leave me? I'm sure you've been compensated to the point that it wouldn't have affected you. But what about me and all the other people like me? You can probably go two years without drawing a paycheck. I COULDN'T GO TWO MONTHS!"

"You have legitimate grievances," Shinjiro Hino, hostage number two, spoke up. "But taking hostages and making demands isn't the way to solve them."

"A lot you Dietmen care," sneered Kawakami. "You only listen to who has the most money!"

"That isn't true," bristled Hino. "I concede there are a few self-interested individuals in the Diet, but most of the body has Japan's welfare and the welfare of its people at heart. We do care."

"I don't trust you!" Kawakami shot back. "And I don't trust him! Not anymore! I'm going to run this company the way it should be run! I'll run it so that it makes money and that money will go to the workers and not into the overstuffed pockets of people like him!"

Suddenly he turned and pointed at the third hostage with his pistol. Everyone tensed, most of all Ai Norito, Otonashi's executive assistant and the third hostage. Her fear escaped in a frightened whimper.

"You," he ordered. "Take a message to the police downstairs. Tell them that they have ten minutes to comply with my demands or I shoot Otonashi and take his place on my own."

Ai just sat there, dumbfounded. Confused, she looked to Otonashi for confirmation that Kawakami was actually letting her go.

"Go," Hino advised her with steely calm. "Deliver the message." Still she hesitated. "Take advantage of this opportunity." he urged her.

With that, Ai Norito lunged out of her chair for the door. She expected to be gunned down at any time, but she opened the door and bolted out without incident.

"Thank you for letting her go," Hino told their captor.

"I've got nothing against her," Kawakami replied grimly. "It's people like him . . ."

"LOOK!" cried Otonashi anxiously. "Take that Universe Phone off! It's making you do this! TAKE IT OFF!"

Kawakami turned to him in surprise. Hino stared as well. He knew he hadn't gotten the full story from Otonashi on what the problem with the Universe Phone was, but he wasn't expecting Sailor Moon's wild accusations to actually be true.

"The phone is making you do this!" Otonashi repeated. "You don't want to really do this! The phone is corrupting your mind!"

"What did you do?" Kawakami asked.

Otonashi only stared up at him, fearful of what reprisals the truth might bring.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" the young manager bellowed. He grabbed Otonashi by the shirt collar and jammed the barrel of the pistol into the older man's cheek.

"The phone," whimpered Otonashi. "It was Awanishi - - in R and D. The phone is just a basic phone. Awanishi came up with a way to stimulate the brain - - people who used the phone would - - would have the urge planted in their brain to buy accessories, minutes, add-ons, everything. They'd tell all their friends what a great product it was, how they had to have it. It would spur sales - - save the company."

"Subliminal brainwashing?" Hino queried, stunned by the admission.

"Yes," Otonashi nodded. "But it all went wrong! Awanishi erred! His subliminal stimulus was too strong - - missed the target! It made people act out their deepest desires! Like you!"

"Me?" Kawakami mumbled.

"THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE TO TAKE THAT PHONE OFF!" Otonashi exclaimed. "It may not be too late! You have to take that phone off!"

"You experimented on the public? ON ME?" Kawakami roared. The gun came up and snapped down across Otonashi's cheek. He spun from the chair and landed in a heap on the floor. There the man lay, quivering and whimpering, and fearing that this was his last moment on Earth. "I should do the world a favor and KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!"

"DON'T!" Hino barked, thrusting his hand out for emphasis. "It's not too late for you! All of this behavior can be excused by the influence of that phone! But if you kill him, you're destroying your own life as well! There will be no hope for you!"

"There's no hope for me now," Kawakami replied, devastation washing over him. "I'm done. My career is done. My future is gone. No one will hire me after this."

"That depends on you," Hino told him. "You can make them see you still have value. You can reclaim your future through hard work and diligence. It won't be easy, but it's there to seize if you have the courage to seize it. It's not over - - unless you pull that trigger."

Hino stared at Kawakami, wondering if he had gotten through. The man stood over Otonashi, the gun still pointed at the quivering mass, poised to shoot. Every second that passed meant Hino was that much closer to pulling him back from the brink. But every second the gun was still poised to fire meant that he hadn't won yet.

"Put the gun down," Hino urged Kawakami. "Take charge of your life. Don't be a slave to circumstances. Master them! Make them work for you!"

The gun didn't move.

* * *

As the senshi moved toward the Takamoto Telecom tower, Artemis was on his computer, safely and anonymously tucked into the back seat of Superintendent Sakurada's unmarked vehicle. Luna was in the corner of the screen, on a real time connection with him.

"Are you tracking the girls, Artemis?" Luna asked.

"Actually I'm trying to make contact with someone," the white cat replied as his paws danced over the computer keys.

"The outers?"

"Goro Awanishi."

"The inventor of the Universe Phone?" Luna gasped.

"That's right," Artemis said as he searched his screen. "Mercury was right. It was a lot harder to hack into the phone than I thought it would be. The subliminal suggestion program is protected by a firewall. I could probably crack it eventually, but we really don't have that kind of time."

"So you're going to the source and asking him how to disable it?" Luna concluded.

"Give the lady some catnip," Artemis smiled as he searched.

"Are you certain he'll cooperate?" Luna asked him. "After all, with the device implicated in felony crimes now, Awanishi may wish to distance himself from the phone and anything connected to it."

"Going to have to take that chance," Artemis replied. "If I can shut that phone down and neutralize this crisis remotely, so much the better. You didn't hear Mercury's plan."

"But how are you going to find him?" Luna asked. "Is he in the phone listings?"

"Home, office and cell," Artemis smirked triumphantly. "None of the phones are picking up, though."

"Perhaps he's gone to ground."

"Or perhaps he's out of range," Artemis concluded. "But here's a text address. It's worth a shot."

[Awanishi-San. Need 2 talk 2 u about Universe Phone. Problems have come up.] Artemis typed and sent as a text message. He waited for a response. After an agonizing wait, one where he was just about to give up, a return message came.

[Who is this?] came the response.

[I know phone affects human behavior. Subliminal program in phone. How do u shut down program?]

[Dont know what u mean]

[Police already know about program. How do u shut it down? Matter of life & death.]

There was no response.

[2 late 2 deny. Secret is out. Help us save lives! Otonashi involved!] Artemis sent.

No response came.

[Refusal 2 help will not look good 2 police. How do u shut it down?] Artemis sent.

"Anything, Artemis?" Luna asked over the real time connection.

"No, nothing!" Artemis fumed. "I had contact with him! All he did was deny everything! He didn't even seem to care that lives might be at stake!" The cat snorted. "He's probably buying plane tickets for some country that doesn't have extradition."

"No doubt," Luna agreed. "Still, it was a valiant effort, Artemis. Perhaps all you can do now is notify the Superintendent so she can have Awanishi-San picked up - - BEFORE he boards that plane for The Seychelles."

"With - - pleasure," Artemis smiled through clenched teeth. But as he put in a call to Sakurada's cell phone, Artemis began to worry about the safety of the senshi team about to confront this hostage situation.

* * *

Bursting into the lobby of the now-evacuated office building, Sailor Moon and her senshi headed for the elevators at top speed. Mercury was behind the rest because she was dividing her concentration between running and her computer.

"Sensors show the elevators are clear of traps and in working order!" she told them. Jupiter arrived at the buttons first and turned to Mercury inquiringly. "The hostages are on the sixteenth floor!"

Jupiter nodded and hit the up button. Moments later, a car opened onto the lobby. Ai Norito stumbled out in a blind panic. Jupiter caught her and kept her on her feet. The woman was terrified at first, but calmed some when she realized that it was the famous Sailor Senshi who had her.

"He's going to kill him!" Ai cried. "That man! He's going to kill Otonashi-Sama!"

"You're one of the hostages?" Venus asked her.

"He let me go!" Ai wailed. "He said to tell the police - - tell them he's going to kill Otonashi-Sama in-in ten minutes!"

The five senshi glanced at each other, then piled into the elevator. Jupiter hit the button for the sixteenth floor. As the car went up, Mercury continued to study her computer for changes in the sensor picture she had of the office where the hostages and the gunman were. The others mentally reviewed the plan. As they rode up, everyone reflected on the plan.

* * *

"I have a plan," Mercury had announced suddenly as the senshi had all been trading options behind the police line. The other senshi turned hopefully to her. "It involves variables that I can't precisely predict, so it isn't foolproof. But I'm optimistic of success."

"It's better than anything we've got," Venus had replied. "Shoot."

* * *

The elevator arrived at the sixteenth floor and opened. Jupiter and Venus emerged first, ready to take on anything, while Mercury scanned and Mars stood in front of Sailor Moon. A gesture from Venus brought the others out.

"There's the office," Mercury said softly, pointing to the office at the opposite end of the lobby. There was an empty reception desk in front of it. Mars and Sailor Moon recognized it from their previous visit. "Scanning three figures: one is standing at three o'clock as you go in the door, while a second is crouched on the floor at one o'clock. The gunman is standing over him, also at one o'clock. He's armed with a Makarov PM 9x18 mm Special automatic pistol with a 10 round magazine. No shots have been fired yet."

"That's really more information than I wanted," Mars exhaled tensely.

"You going to be all right?" Venus queried Mars, a note of concern in her voice.

Mars took a breath. "I'll do my job."

"Let's do this," Venus nodded.

Cautiously everyone crept up to their designated position. Mars and Jupiter were on opposite sides of the door about a foot away each. Venus was positioned roughly fifteen feet from the door. Sailor Moon was at the desk, looking to Mercury for her cue. Mercury was several feet behind her, eyes glued to her computer.

"Anybody know how much of those ten minutes we've got left?" Venus asked softly.

"No sense in wasting time, regardless," Mercury replied just as softly. Then she pointed to Sailor Moon.

Producing the Moon Tier, Sailor Moon softly proclaimed, "Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss". Silver waves began emanating from the head of the Moon Tier.

* * *

"You'll be using the Moon Tier to try to calm everyone in the office, but particularly the man with the gun," Mercury had told her when she was outlining the plan. "But be careful not to project too much energy or you risk overcoming everyone around you."

* * *

Sailor Moon struggled to precisely control the amount of Crystal Energy being emitted by the Moon Tier. Mercury really didn't know how much she was asking of the future queen. Mercury had never experienced the power of the Silver Crystal. But Sailor Moon stayed silent, not wanting to sabotage the plan. And now she gave controlling the flow of energy her all.

Mercury looked to the others for confirmation. They were all struggling to resist the siren call of Sailor Moon's Crystal Energy. Mars nodded first, then Venus and finally Jupiter. Then Mars glanced at Sailor Moon and found her friend and princess staring back with concern.

* * *

"Mars, this plan depends upon you most of all," Mercury had said, "and you'll be the one facing the most risk. Can you do it?"

Mars considered what she had to do for a moment. "There's not much of a choice at this point," she had replied.

* * *

Now she and Sailor Moon were both recalling that moment. Mars looked at her friend and, after a moment, gave her a confident smile and a nod. Mercury silently signaled Venus.

"Venus," the senshi whispered, splaying her hand at her side, "Love and Beauty Shock."

The energy force exploded through the door, sending a shower of splintered wood and plaster dust barreling into the office. Dulled by the effect of Sailor Moon's Crystal Energy, everyone inside was stunned, too stunned to move. It was the moment Mercury had counted on.

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter bellowed, tossing a lightning bolt into the center of the room, away from the three occupants. It had never been Mercury's intent for her to strike anyone with the electricity. Rather, her plan had been to momentarily blind everyone with the light the bolt threw off. The sudden acrid smell of scorched carpet fibers was the cue for Mars, who had been shielding her eyes, to act.

"Mars!" she yelled, plunging into the room with one hand splayed at her side, "Flame Sniper!"

The flaming bow grew in her hands even as the man with the gun was pulling his hand away from his aching eyes. The arrow was forming as Mars saw her target. But his vision was clearing and the gun was coming up, leveling at her to shoot. Mars knew she only had one shot at this. She cleared her mind. Her years of practice at archery took over.

The arrow flew. Three shots rang out. And Sailor Moon screamed in terror.

Concluded in Chapter 12


	12. The Aftermath

DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER  
Chapter 12: "The Aftermath"

by Bill K.

* * *

With speed born of desperation, Sailor Moon barreled for the office of Hoichi Otonashi, three pistol shots echoing in her brain. She reached the door and, in her haste, stopped as the wings of her costume caught in the frame of the door. Frantically she tugged and pulled at the wings until, finally with the aid of Mercury and Venus, she was able to bend the wings and free herself from the door frame. Sailor Moon plunged into the room, expecting the worst and praying for the best.

"Mars!" she gasped in tears.

"I'm all right," Mars said. She was holding a flaming arrow, her bow drawn and ready to fire directly at Noboru Kawakami. The man stood, glaring impotently at the flaming arrow, his hands up in the air. "The gun went off when my arrow knocked it out of his hand. It put three bullets in the wall over there."

"OH THANK GOODNESS!" Sailor Moon wailed, diving at Mars and hugging her as she cried. "When I heard those shots, I thought . . .!"

"Jumped to another conclusion, huh?" Mars chided her with a gentle smile.

"I think this should eliminate most of the problem," Shinjiro Hino said. He moved to Kawakami and cautiously removed the Universe Phone from the man's right ear. "This man isn't responsible. He was being influenced by this device."

"Yeah, we heard," Venus cut him off. "I'll call the Superintendent and tell her the situation is secured."

As she left the room, Mercury moved to the still huddled form of Hoichi Otonashi. Jupiter was watching Kawakami to make sure he didn't try anything, while Mars was trying to extricate herself from Sailor Moon's death grip. Mercury knelt down and put her hands on the man's shoulders, guiding him up from the floor.

"That's a bad blow to your face, Sir," Mercury told him. She could see he was also in shock and wading in some churning emotional waters. "Do you have any other injuries?" Otonashi didn't respond. "Some paramedics will be here to transport you to a hospital. I recommend you go with them. Can you get to your feet?"

With Mercury's gentle prodding, Otonashi got to his feet. The senshi began to guide him out of the room. But when he caught sight of Hino, Otonashi stopped and became more animated.

"It'll come out now," Otonashi said to Hino. "When it does - - that'll be it! The end of everything! Disgrace - - maybe prison! The company will be gone! Only you can help me now, Hino-San!"

Hino looked at him soberly. "Mind control? Tampering with people's thoughts just to sell product? I'm sorry, Otonashi-San. You crossed a line. There's nothing I can do for you now."

Otonashi looked down, defeated. He allowed Mercury to lead him out. Hino sank into a chair and allowed the exhaustion he felt to sweep over him. When he glanced up, he found Sailor Mars looking at him. She was reading him - - he could tell. He'd seen the look before, both from Sailor Mars and when she was in her Rei identity. Cynical as ever about him, she hadn't thought he'd meant what he'd said to Otonashi. Now she was finding out differently.

Hino looked deeper into the eyes of his estranged daughter. Was he actually seeing a hint of respect - - or was he just imagining it? Then the police team entered and the moment was lost.

* * *

"Look at this," Daichi Aino said. He was reading the morning paper with his breakfast, just has he had for over twenty years. His wife paused from washing her plate, as she always finished before him because she didn't allow herself to be "distracted" while she ate, and looked over her husband's shoulder.

"Scandal at Takamoto Telecom," she read. "Looks like it all came out."

"Subliminal messaging," Daichi repeated. "Thought control?"

"You see," Kimiko told him. "You should have said something."

"I know," sighed Daichi, "but it's easier to have courage after the battle is over."

"What do you think this will mean for the company?"

"It can't be good," Daichi scowled. "Between the negative publicity and the liability suits, Takamoto is probably not long for the world. Whoever they get to replace Otonashi-Sama may just throw up his hands and liquidate." Daichi folded his paper neatly. "Better dust off the old resume. No telling how much longer I'll have a job."

"Then why not take Minako's offer?" Kimiko asked.

"She won't want her old man looking over her shoulder," Daichi sighed.

"Then don't look over her shoulder," Kimiko replied with that incisive way of hers. "Just manage her business affairs like you're supposed to."

"Then how will I supply you with insider gossip about the entertainment industry?" Daichi needled his wife.

"I DO NOT GOSSIP," huffed Kimiko. "If you're smart, Daichi, you'll take this offer while it's there. There's no telling how this entire situation will settle itself out, but with the chief of the company under arrest for inciting mayhem, it can't be good. It could be the best decision you've ever made."

"Couldn't be," Daichi responded with a tired smirk. "Marrying you already claimed that title." He leaned over and kissed his wife. She flushed just like she did whenever she was flustered.

"Oh, honestly!" she clucked. "Go on, you'll be late for work. That's assuming you still have a job." Daichi complied, lifting himself out of his chair and heading for his briefcase. "And call Minako about that offer!"

"I'll have to wait until the sun is warm in the sky," Daichi called back as he headed for the door. "You know how our daughter is."

After the door closed behind him, Kimiko Aino leaned back in her chair. A misty, sentimental smile bloomed on her still pretty face.

"That man," she whispered to herself in good humor.

* * *

"She's in here," Rei heard Akira-Sensei say. Growing flustered, Rei searched for a moment for a way to hide what she was doing. Then she realized it was too big to hide. Sighing with frustration, she turned to find Usagi in the room.

"Hi, Rei, I," the woman began. Then she stopped and stared. "Is that a-a computer?"

"Ami gave me her old one," Rei admitted reluctantly. "Actually it comes in handy every so often. She found a program on the internet that can help with song composition . . ."

"You're on the 'net?" Usagi gaped.

"Why do you think I had to put the phone line in, Pea Brain?" grumbled the priest.

"What are you looking at? Pictures of guys?" Usagi asked, peering over Rei's shoulder.

"BACK OFF!" Rei howled. But it was too late.

"The news?" Usagi exclaimed, her disappointment deep. "Come on, Rei-Chan!"

"Some of us actually have minds to feed," Rei shot back. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Usagi told her. She brought up a pastry box she was holding in her hand. "I brought more cookies."

"Trying to make me as fat as you?

"REI HINO . . . !"

"Sit down," chuckled Rei. "I'll get us some tea."

The priest came back and found Usagi reading the story she had brought up from the web.

"Reading about your father," Usagi smiled. "I knew you couldn't hate him THAT much."

"Think again," scowled Rei. "I was just reading up on this legislation he's pushing through the Diet, outlawing subliminal messaging in all communications devices. I can't believe it wasn't already illegal."

"I know. And the guy who actually made the program got away. Luna says Artemis is mad as a hornet about that," Usagi said, nibbling on a cookie. "Say, did you hear about Dietman Nogura? They say he was meeting with the man from Takamoto Telecom. They say he was trying to cover up what they were doing! I wonder how the news media found out."

"It wouldn't surprise me if my father leaked it," Rei replied cynically, glancing at the story over Usagi's shoulder. "His party is the one who'll benefit from this if the Democrats get caught up in the Takamoto scandal."

"Rei, you're so cynical about him. Can't you ever give him a break?"

"Oh, eat your cookie," Rei grumbled.

* * *

Ami arrived on the shore of Lake Biwa and found her father sitting before an easel, working on another landscape portrait of the lake itself. It was as she expected. Knowing her father, it wouldn't do her any good to try to talk to him until he was finished, so she softly came up near him and took a seat in the sand near him to watch.

As she watched her father, Ami focused on the painting itself. It was a picture of the lake and at first glance accurate but hardly remarkable. Then, as she knew to do from studying his work, Ami looked deeper. And she saw what she always saw when she looked critically at her father's work: how Koji Mizuno had managed to instill his love of this area into the painting itself. Rather than having photographic accuracy, his use of color and texture had added a level of drama and pageantry to what the eye saw. It was like a poet making a tree something more than a tree just from the descriptions the poet chose. Her father had a way of looking at life that her mother, and a lot of people, just didn't possess.

About twelve minutes later, he leaned back and looked the painting over. Ami watched a smile of intense satisfaction grow on his face. Knowing his moods, she smiled as well.

"Got this one right?" she asked. Her father looked over at her. By his startled expression, she knew it was the first inkling he had that she was sitting there.

"Ami!" he gasped. "Have you been there long? Did I forget about an appointment we'd arranged?"

"No, I just wanted to drop by and visit," Ami said, climbing back up to her feet. She walked over and kissed him on the cheek. "I've only been here about ten minutes."

"I'm sorry," he alibied. "I was involved in work."

"I could tell by the pile of dishes in your sink," Ami replied fondly. "Have you eaten?"

"Yes," Koji answered. Then he stopped and frowned. "Although, come to think of it, I'm not sure if it was today or yesterday." He mentally took stock. "Maybe it was yesterday. I seem pretty hungry, now that I think of it."

"Come on, then," Ami offered her hand. "I'll fix up something."

"All right," Koji nodded and gathered up his paints and tools. The pair headed for his cabin. "Do you like the painting?"

"I like all your work, Dad," Ami told him. "If you're pleased with this one, it must be special."

In the cabin, over a meal of rice and noodles because it was the only thing Koji had that wasn't past its use date, the two talked about life and recent events. It wasn't long until Ami's dispute with her mother came up.

"Yeah, that's Kanami," Koji sighed, massaging his eyes.

"Dad, why does she have to be like that?" Ami asked plaintively.

"Your mom is a wonderful woman," Koji explained. "Brilliant, beautiful, caring, and right most of the time. But one thing she doesn't seem to grasp is that she's not right ALL of the time. And if she decides something should be a certain way, you can't knock it out of her head with a mallet."

"You don't think she's right?" Ami asked. "You don't think I'm running away?"

"You seem to think you're running away," he replied. Ami seemed surprised. "You wouldn't have brought it up otherwise." Koji shifted on his seat. "Maybe you are running away. And maybe, in some cases, running away is a good thing. In your mom's world, you stand for what's right, you do your best and you triumph through force of will and hard work. That's not always the real world, Ami. Sometimes you come up against something that you can't handle and the best course of action is to back away until you can come up with a way to triumph, just to avoid being consumed by what you're up against."

"But what about the others who might be sacrificed in the process?" Ami asked.

"That's a judgment call, Ami. You have to survey the situation and make the best decision you can. In your case, what's better: Go to a situation where the need for your abilities isn't as critical, but where you're still aiding those who need you - - or stay where the need for you is more critical, but where the environment makes you so unhappy that your skills and desire erode, possibly to a point where you're no longer helping?"

"But if she's right - - if I'm not doing as much as I could do?"

"Ami, you help the sick," Koji smiled, "and you're Sailor Mercury besides. Isn't that as much as one person should be expected to do? Remember, you have to be responsible to yourself, too. Are you seeing anyone? Or do you just sit at home and read - - maybe write poetry that nobody else sees?"

Ami felt her cheeks flush.

"It's OK to take a little time away from 'using your skills for the betterment of the species' to cater to your needs," Koji reminded her. "Have some fun. See things. Meet people. Find yourself a good man and have kids." He leaned in. "You know, when your mom was your age, you were already seven years old. She juggled you, a career AND a worthless husband who only sat around and dreamed all day."

"Not very well, as I recall," Ami said nostalgically.

"Because she was trying too hard to do too much. Something you have the common sense to avoid. I think she realizes that now - - although I think you'd have to torture her to get her to admit it. Your mom is a little myopic in that she can't understand why everyone can't be as driven to succeed as she is. My opinion is that you've made a wonderful success out of your life. And if some day you feel that you can or should do more, the option is there. After all, nobody knows where this world is going to be in ten years. But if you never do anything more than be a general practitioner for the rest of your life, you've already made me proud of you."

"Thank you, Dad," Ami smiled gratefully.

* * *

Michiru Kaioh was on the sofa in her living room, nestled into her favorite spot in the whole world, namely Haruka's left shoulder. Whatever was wrong with the world, right now she didn't care.

Haruka had gotten home from Belgium late in the evening and the mileage was etched on her face. Michiru was going to let the incident with Sakiko Yakino go until Haruka had gotten some sleep. But the link they had was too perceptive and Haruka noticed immediately that something had happened. So, snuggled together on the sofa for both security and comfort, Michiru told her mate everything that had happened.

"So where's this girl now?" Haruka asked. Michiru could detect the undercurrent of unease in her mate's voice.

"In police custody," Michiru reported, "at least until the hearing. But she's been classified as a 'Universe Phone Victim', so I think they'll probably let her go."

"Maybe if you said something, they'd hang on to her," Haruka suggested.

"She wasn't responsible, Haruka," Michiru replied. "When you read up on this whole Universe Phone fiasco, you'll realize that."

"Michiru, she could have killed you," Haruka said.

"Haruka, that four-wheeled monstrosity you were driving in Belgium could have killed you," Michiru argued. "But it's no more responsible for its actions than she was for hers."

"It's not the same," rumbled Haruka.

"Maybe not," Michiru said, "but it's similar." She twisted up and looked at her love. "Haruka, I know you're just trying to protect me. I do appreciate it. But persecuting that girl won't accomplish anything except further ruin a life that's already been damaged because she trusted a device to work as advertised." Michiru smirked devilishly. "Besides, it's not her fault that you're irresistible."

"That's true," Haruka nodded.

"Oh, I really had to twist your arm to get you to agree to that one, huh?" Michiru raised an eyebrow. Haruka hugged her tighter.

"I'm just glad Setsuna was there," Haruka murmured. "We really need to do something for her to say 'thank you'."

"Agreed," Michiru responded. "But tomorrow. Tonight we need to do something for each other." She twisted back around and looked up at Haruka. "I've missed you."

"Same here," Haruka agreed.

She scooped Michiru up into her arms. Michiru cuddled close, her head draped on Haruka's shoulder. And together they headed for - - more intimate places.

* * *

In the days since the Universe Phone Fiasco came to a head, Minako had been busy. Between extended hours filming on her movie, two personal appearances to promote her television show and meeting with her record producer to plan her next album, there had been little time to be home. And when she did manage to make it home, Toshihiro was usually at the studio working on his show.

It was another one of those quiet, lonely nights that found Artemis walking into the living room. There Toshihiro was sitting on the sofa, absently munching on a snack food and watching the television. And it struck the little white cat that Toshihiro seemed to be such a solitary and forlorn character. Silently he padded up and leaped up onto the back of the sofa. Toshihiro barely acknowledged him.

"You and Minako still on the outs?" he asked.

"Who knows," Toshihiro mumbled. "She hasn't been here enough to find out." He sighed. "Wouldn't surprise me, though. I wish I hadn't gotten jealous. But it's so hard seeing her with another man, even when it's only a part in a movie. And Hitaro Tsuko being the other man is even worse."

"She's not playing around on you," Artemis assured her.

"I know."

"Maybe you should tell her that."

"I'm a director. Pictures are my strength, not words. Especially with her. When she glares at me and I know I've made her mad, or worse, hurt her, it's like I freeze up. I'm so scared of losing her."

"Toshihiro, I've been with Minako a long time, and I've got the bruises to prove it," Artemis began. "Minako may not like it when you unjustly accuse her of infidelity, but she does understand the emotion. Deep down, it's kind of a weird boost to her ego to think that she's got two men interested in her, even if it's just in your mind. But what she can't take is you pulling away from her. She's lost friends before - - people she thought were friends - - because they couldn't accept how take charge she is or how pretty she is or how driven, and withdrew. She's a wild ride, but she needs someone who's willing to share the ride, ups and downs. That's what's important to her." Artemis turned away because emotion was welling up in him. "I'd really like you two to patch this up. You're actually pretty good for her. I've never seen her this happy, and you're a big part of that. But you can't just sit here and hope everything goes back to being what it was."

Toshihiro nodded silently.

"If you can't work up the courage to apologize," Artemis suggested, "get her a present. Something nice, something romantic, something that says 'I'm sorry' if you can't put it in words. And make time to spend time with her. I guarantee you she wants to make this work. But you've got to meet her half way."

"You're right," Toshihiro nodded. He got up off the couch, bag of snacks still in his hand. "Thanks, Artemis. You're pretty smart about things like this. I'll go do it - - right now."

Heading for the door, Toshihiro opened it, then jumped back with a start. Minako was standing there, just about to insert her key. The couple stared at each other for a few seconds, not knowing how to proceed.

"Um," Toshihiro began nervously, then thrust the bag of snacks into Minako's hands. "Here. F-For you. I-I'm sorry, Minako, about everything. Please forgive me."

Incredulously Minako looked down at the half-consumed bag of snacks. Then a silly grin grew on her face and she gazed back at Toshihiro.

"Gee, you sure know the way to a girl's heart," Minako smirked. "What the Hell. The ring's already paid for. Come here, sexy."

The two kissed warmly, then hugged each other.

"Mmm, barbecue," quipped Minako as she licked her lips. "I hope you left me some."

Artemis watched everything with some confusion. "Or," he mumbled to himself, turning away, "you could always do that."

* * *

In the office of the President and CEO of Horizon Pictures, the studio where Minako was making her film, a man stood next to the President's desk. On the desk were written reports and photographs. The man sitting at the desk was examining them.

"All scenes with Minako Aino and Hitaro Tsuko have wrapped," the man standing reported. "No evidence of any relationship between the principals. Relations were strained between Aino and her husband, but recent evidence shows that those problems have been smoothed over."

"Well," Kaitou Ace, the President and CEO of Horizon Pictures, said to the picture of Minako more than to anyone else, "you seem to have matured some, Minako. Perhaps you really mean to make your proclamation come true." He turned to the man standing next to him. "Good work. You may go."

The man bowed and left. Ace continued to stare at the picture of Minako kissing Hitaro Tsuko.

"Setting you up in a steamy romantic picture with Hitaro Tsuko didn't tempt you. I'd say a stronger test is in order, just to see if your vision of the future is the accurate one, or if mine is."

Conclusion


End file.
